Sparks and Steel
by T.C.Rose
Summary: Tifa must choose between the man she's loved since her childhood and a man she once considered her enemy. Cloud/Tifa, Reno/Tifa. Incorporates some elements of OTWTAS and AC but does NOT take place in those worlds. Lime/Lemon Content. Ongoing rewrites to improve the story. Chapter 22 replaced 10/29/2020.
1. The Planet’s Crisis

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. I do not own any Final Fantasy VII content, obviously. I also did not write much of the dialogue in this scene – it comes from the original 1997 game and "On The Way To A Smile – Case Of Tifa." There are also some vague similarities to "Case of Shinra" as well.**

**Updated 6/14/20: I am rewriting much of this story and turning it into a Remake fic. Every edited chapter will have a note at the top like this one hinting at what was changed. This means that at some point the unedited chapters will seem really out of place with the timeline. Please bear with me as I continue to improve this work.**

**Edits in this chapter include a new opening, additional scene on the Highwind, and new content involving the Turks.**

**I would implore anyone who has already read this story to begin reading it again fully as there will be so many changes throughout each chapter.**

Chapter 1:

Darkness had shrouded the planet as Meteor drew closer. From Wutai to Midgar, the sun had been blocked by the giant fireball as it approached the world's largest metropolis, which had already been reeling since Diamond Weapon's attack on the city.

Tifa Lockhart supported herself on the railing around the deck of the Highwind, watching the horror that was taking place on the ground beneath the airship.

Holy had not come fast enough, even though Aerith had summoned it before Sephiroth summoned Meteor. By the time Holy arrived, Meteor was close to hitting the planet where Shinra HQ once reached the sky. As Nanaki pointed out, it was too late for Holy; the heavenly summon was having the opposite effect.

Even worse, Meteor was threatening the planet despite their best efforts to change their futures. They had literally fought fate before leaving Midgar all those months ago, yet every horrible vision they had seen in the Shinra headquarters and from Sephiroth had come true. Aerith had still died; murdered by Sephiroth's masamune blade through her heart. Meteor was still summoned and was now destroying Midgar. They had done everything right, yet they had still failed.

Tifa watched as the city that had once been her home was engulfed in a bright orange light in the sky, and a bluish-white light on the ground. Cyclones reached from Meteor to the city below, destroying homes, businesses, and the plate itself. Though she couldn't see the people below, she knew the terror they were experiencing – it was the same terror she felt as she climbed the tower that held up the Sector 7 plate.

She and her fellow AVALANCHE members learned just before heading into the Northern Crater that Rufus Shinra had been missing and presumed dead after Diamond Weapon attacked the Shinra building. Even though the thought of Shinra falling had been AVALANCHE's ultimate goal in the beginning, she couldn't help but worry about the people who worked there just trying to make a living. Sure, Rufus was evil, but the average worker at the company, though they were contributing to the planet's destruction, just wanted to support their families. She didn't want them all to suffer.

They had seen the remaining living Turks – Reno, Rude, and Elena – in Midgar not too long ago. Were they still alive? If any part of Shinra deserved to perish, it was the Turks. They destroyed Sector 7 by dropping the plate and had continued trying to kill her and her friends as they tried to save the world and stop Sephiroth.

Tifa knew that Reeve, at least, had survived among the top executives of the company, but she only knew that because Cait Sith was still operational. The robotic cat had given them a message from Reeve worrying that he had sentenced more people to death by begging them to take shelter from Meteor in the slums. She didn't know what other choice the people of the city had, given the damage currently being wrought by Meteor. There was nowhere safe to turn, and escape wasn't an option as there were only a few doors along the outer wall allowing passage, and those had probably created a bottleneck of people trying to flee.

Tifa worried about Marle and Andrea Rhodea, hoping they were able to save the people of their respective sectors. Wall Market may have been an awful place, but not everyone there deserved to die. Andrea had helped Cloud rescue her and helped her release stress before they climbed the plate to save Aerith from Shinra. Chocobo Sam had helped her get a meeting with Don Corneo and had been kind to her. She knew others who had helped Cloud find her as well, and Leslie Kyle may still be in the city searching for his fiancée. Tifa didn't want them to suffer, nor anyone she had once called her neighbor in Sector 7.

And even though Midgar seemed to be Meteor's main focus, Kalm was close enough that it could be destroyed as well. Tifa glanced over in Kalm's direction. It was illuminated by the light of Meteor, but no cyclones appeared to have reached it yet. Tifa prayed that Elmyra and Marlene were safe.

Cloud stood next to her, leaning against the railing with his back to Meteor and Holy. He had already experienced so much pain and suffering in his life – Nibelheim, his imprisonment, Aerith – he didn't want to see any more. He also felt that if this were the beginning of the end, he would rather not see death coming for him. Instead, he stared intently at the wooden deck under his feet. He found himself studying the wood grain and counting the number of planks. He could only count a few before the Highwind would jolt due to turbulence and he would lose his place.

On about his fourth attempt at counting, Tifa suddenly spoke up. Everyone had become silent after they realized Holy was not stopping Meteor, lost in their own thoughts and fears. From up here, on a ship as fast as the Highwind, they might be able to survive for a while and outrun Meteor, but their loved ones below had no such option.

"What's that!?" she asked, extending her right arm and pointing off into the distance.

Cloud begrudgingly diverted his attention away from the deck to follow her gaze. He looked in the general direction in which she was pointing but saw nothing except for a black landscape silhouetted by the distant light from the calamity.

"Where?" he asked, squinting to try and see what she was referring to.

"There!" she said, jabbing her finger in the same direction as before. There really wasn't more she could do.

Cloud continued to squint and try to stare beyond where her finger was pointing. Barret was standing to Tifa's left, doing the same. Finally, they both saw it.

At first it was faint, just a small greenish-white dot somewhere in the mountains. But soon, the dot grew larger, and the light emanating from it began to elongate until it started snaking its way through the air toward Meteor and Holy. Each stream of light was white in the middle with streaks of green encircling it and directing it forward.

"What the hell IS that…?" Barret asked as more lights appeared, seemingly throughout the world.

"…..Lifestream," Cloud answered.

The three were joined at the railing by Vincent, Nanaki, and Cait Sith. Cid, of course, was helping to fly the ship, and Yuffie was trying to keep her motion sickness from getting the best of her.

The group watched as green tendrils of light streaked across the earth to meet Holy in the depression that it had created with Meteor over Midgar. No one said anything, wondering if the Lifestream would be able to stop the calamity. That was Holy's job, and look how that turned out. Tifa realized she was holding her breath as she watched the planet become enveloped in the green light. She let out a deep breath and watched as the Lifestream from around the world reached Meteor and Holy.

She had nearly resigned herself to watching the planet die from the airship before perishing herself, but now she had hope again.

The Lifestream seemed to be joining with the calamity. No, not merging; taking over. The streaks of green light didn't stop at the edges of Holy; they changed direction and began climbing up and onto Meteor. Within minutes of its first appearance (though it felt like an eternity to those witnessing the event) the Lifestream had completely covered Holy and Meteor. The outer shape of the calamity remained, but it was no longer blue and orange – it was now completely green. The walls within Midgar could no longer be seen.

For what felt like another eternity, the light remained this way, like a giant green mushroom cloud. And then… the Lifestream began to retract, as if being rewound to where it had come from. As the ends of the tendrils returned to the ground, the watching members of AVALANCHE noticed that Meteor was gone. There was no explosion, no crack of sound or additional flash of light. Meteor had just… vanished. As the Lifestream withdrew further, they could see the same had happened with Holy. It was as if the planet had absorbed them.

Tifa's mouth dropped open as she watched the scene play out in front of her. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. She didn't look around her to see the expressions on the faces of her friends, who were as stunned as she was. It looked like things were going to be okay – except for Midgar.

When the Lifestream retreated past Holy but not completely back into the planet yet, Tifa could see Midgar city partially illuminated. While it was not a crater, as had been expected, it was by no means in good shape. The twisters and Meteor had done considerable damage before Holy even arrived, and the power of the white light caused its own destruction. Tifa wondered if anyone was able to survive.

Satisfied that the Lifestream's retreat meant the planet had saved itself, Tifa looked up into the heavens.

"Thank you," she said softly, to Aerith.

She then looked around to her companions, who were still watching the event with awe. When she looked to her right, at Cloud, she noticed he was smiling. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, but she knew that he must have been silently thanking Aerith, as she had.

Tifa couldn't help but smile at Cloud. The last time he had looked that peaceful was when he had fallen asleep after their night together under the Highwind when she thought no one was watching.

Cloud suddenly felt that he was being watched. He glanced over to find that Tifa was, in fact, staring at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, his eyebrows knitting together with concern.

"Cloud, you're smiling," Tifa responded, tilting her head.

"I am?"

"Yeah," she said with a giggle.

Cloud knew he wouldn't be able to explain it to her. He felt a great burden lifted from his shoulders.

"Everything starts now. A new…" he began, searching for the right words. "A new life."

As he watched Meteor, Holy, and the Lifestream, he had felt hopeless. Yet now it seemed like the planet would survive. He would survive.

"I'm going to live. I think that's the only way I can be forgiven," he told Tifa. "We've been through … all sorts of things."

Tifa looked at him, her smile growing wider. After everything they had been through, after all of his misery and disinterest, maybe things were finally going to change for the better.

"I guess you're right…" she said.

He was not the only one who had been miserable all this time. Sure, she hid it better than most in order to be the rock the team needed, but inside she was struggling with so many emotions. She had never had a proper moment to grieve the loss of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. She had not had time to grieve Aerith, even. After every death, they had to press on – something important would come up.

When the Sector 7 plate fell, they had waited a bit before rescuing Aerith at Shinra HQ, but even then, they dove right in to helping people in the surrounding slums instead of focusing on their own grief. Tifa had been struggling with the guilt she felt for her role in the sector's destruction. Shinra had targeted the sector because that was where her bar was, which served as the headquarters for AVALANCHE. And Aerith wouldn't have been taken if Tifa had not asked her to rescue Marlene. Of course, Marlene would not be safe in Kalm if Tifa hadn't sent Aerith to get the little girl. No matter what she did, she would have felt guilty.

Tifa hadn't even learned of Wedge's death in the Shinra tower until long after they left Midgar. He died alone while they were all focused on rescuing Aerith. Tifa hoped he knew how much he had helped them.

After Aerith had died, the group had been immediately thrust into battle with Jenova. And after that, they had resolved to settle their score with Sephiroth, who was heading North.

What would keep them from pausing this time? Tifa's concentration was broken by another statement from Cloud.

"But when I think about how many times I've thought about starting a new life, it's funny," he said.

"Why?" Tifa asked in response.

"I've always failed to do it," he said.

"That's not funny."

Tifa had to admit that he was right. He had tried to join SOLDIER to start a new life – to impress her. He tried to start a new life in Midgar after the torture he and Zack went through in Nibelheim, and they all knew how that turned out.

"After this… I think I'll be okay," Cloud said after a momentary pause. He let the words slip from his lips and prepared for Tifa to ask the obvious question. When she didn't, he gave her the answer anyway: "Because you're with me."

Tifa felt her heart flutter in her chest at his words, and she smiled again. While many thoughts raced through her head, she realized that she would not be able to express them. She choked, just as she had the night they were under the Highwind. They had been together physically yet hadn't said the words she had longed to say. Maybe those words would come soon.

She knew what he was saying, or at least, she thought she did, but she couldn't help being a tad bit hurt by the idea that all this time he hadn't noticed her by his side.

"But I've always been with you," was all she could say in response.

"That's how it will be starting tomorrow," Cloud told her, a smile returning to his lips.

They continued to look at each other in the darkness, illuminated only by what remained of the Lifestream cradling the planet. Cloud gazed into Tifa's wide, hopeful eyes, reflected in which was the green tendrils of their saving grace. He felt her face getting closer to his own and realized he was slowly leaning toward her. In that moment he forgot his other comrades were around him; all he saw was Tifa and all the hope that she encompassed. His greatest ally and his best friend, the woman he had loved since he was a kid.

He was beginning to close his eyes to kiss her when the Highwind rocked violently. Cloud instinctively reached out to grab Tifa to protect her, gripping the railing with one hand and holding her close with his other arm. Just as the ship steadied again, he let her go involuntarily, clutching his head as images flashed in his head, just as they had done before they defeated Sephiroth and Jenova.

He saw Tifa, sprawled out and bleeding on the platform where Aerith was killed.

The vision quickly vanished but his eyes remained wide and fearful when the headache stopped. He thought he was through with those after Tifa helped him find himself in the Lifestream and they defeated Sephiroth and Jenova.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, one hand on his back and one on his arm for comfort. He could see the look in her eye – the look of fear and recognition. He didn't want her to worry, so he lied.

"Don't worry, it's not that," he said. Her expression didn't change. "I think I hit my head when the ship lurched."

Tifa seemed to accept that explanation. At least, she didn't question him about it further. He hoped that maybe it was just the result of Sephiroth and Jenova still dying in the Northern Crater. A one-time experience. Nothing to be concerned about. They were all exhausted after their journey; he probably just needed a good long rest.

_Meanwhile…_

"Reno, leave it!" Rude yelled at his partner as debris fell around them and the building shook.

"But, it's my favorite!" Reno mock whined.

"Forget it, we have to get everyone out of here!" Rude said more forcefully, grabbing the redhead by his collar and dragging him out of luxury apartments housed within the Shinra building where the Turks and other high-level employees lived if they chose.

Reno didn't put up a fight, having already realized that he could buy a new gun – a lot of new guns, actually – but he couldn't buy a new ass.

They had already helped evacuate the Shinra building when the Weapon attacked and Rufus went missing, but when Meteor started its devastation, many people in Sector 0 and nearby rushed into the building seeking shelter from the cyclones. The structure, however, was no longer sound, no longer the safest place in Midgar.

Reno and Rude had returned to their respective apartments to try and gather some of their things when Meteor struck. They had been helping rescue crews for some time prior to that, and were just getting freed up enough to see if they could salvage anything from their homes. They each had a duffle bag slung over their shoulders, having immediately grabbed their getaway bags upon first return to their apartments. Every good Turk had such a bag, stuffed with gil, fake I.D. cards, and various other items they would need to change their appearance and disappear in a moment's notice. The two nodded to each other when they exited and saw what the other was carrying. Great minds and all that.

But Reno had decided that he wanted to save his weapon collection as well and had run back into his home. He was gathering his guns (his mag rod was, as always, attached to his belt) when the building began to shake violently. It had seemed settled in its destruction after Diamond Weapon, so this was a new development. Rude passed Reno in his bedroom to look out the window. It was no longer dark outside. Instead, it was bright orange outside, the other buildings lit up as if surrounded by fire. It was bright enough to be day outside – which it was, but with the sun being blocked by Meteor, the whole city had plunged into never-ending nightfall.

"My Gods," Rude said as he looked out the window. In the distance, in every angle he could see, Midgar seemed to be enveloped in swirling orange light. From his vantage point, he could see several pillars of orange wind traveling through the city, pulling up houses, cars, and everything else in their path.

Reno stopped stuffing guns and ammo into another bag to figure out what had caused Rude's reaction. His thin, catlike eyes widened beyond what he thought was possible and his pupils dilated.

"Holy sh—" he started saying before Rude turned around to rush out of the room.

Forget the guns. Well, except for one. He ran to his closet and reached onto the high shelf, searching for a box. He heard Rude tell him to leave it behind and groaned. Of course Rude knew what he was looking for. He was already hightailing it out of the apartment when Rude followed up his comment.

The two Turks looked both ways down the hall outside their homes once Reno exited.

"You don't think anyone else came back, do you?" Reno asked.

"Not up here, I don't think," Rude said, pushing his sunglasses a little toward the bridge of his nose. "But there were people downstairs in the lobby."

"We just had to turn this place into a refugee camp," Reno muttered as he and his partner ran back toward the stairwell.

They descended the stairs as quickly as they could, though they were regularly thrown into the walls or nearly over the railing by the building shifting.

"Shit!" Reno yelped during one such incident as he was thrown into the railing, the bar colliding harshly with his gut. The force caused his arms to react, and his getaway bag fell off his shoulder and down the stairwell. "Fuck!"

He moved faster after that, with Rude keeping pace. He grabbed the duffle bag when they reached it and again threw it over his shoulder, this time with the strap diagonal across his chest like Rude had done. This was his life's work, his one-way ticket out, and though he never dreamed of leaving the Turks, he needed that security.

The two men burst through the stairwell doors and entered the upper level of the lobby, running over to the guard rails to look down below. Cots and sleeping bags had been strewn throughout the lobby and the car showroom downstairs to provide comfort for those who had lost their homes when the Sister Ray collapsed. Reno looked out at the sea of people and slammed his fist against the railing.

"Shit!" he yelled, though there was too much commotion for any of the refugees to hear him.

Before he and Rude could reach the stairs, they heard glass breaking behind them. They were more surprised that any glass was still standing that could be broken than they were to see the Director of Urban Development, Reeve Tuesti, lowering his leg from a kicking position and then walking toward them purposefully. He didn't notice them at first, however, as he had an odd contraption on his head. It looked like a headset with an attached microphone and one glass circle covering his left eye. He seemed to be talking to whomever was on the other end. He was also holding a complicated remote control that he was clearly familiar with, as he operated the numerous buttons and joysticks without looking at it.

Reno and Rude looked at each other a little confused, as they had never seen Reeve actually control the robot cat and moogle they knew he used to spy on AVALANCHE. It was an odd sight to see such a well-dressed man half paying attention to where he was walking and half paying attention to what seemed like a portable video game.

Reeve stopped in front of the men and clicked a button on the remote, apparently switching off Cait Sith's microphone so he could talk to the Turks. Reno and Rude didn't even think he had noticed them when he stopped, as he didn't appear to register their presence until they saw him make deliberate eye contact.

"Good, you're still alive," Reeve said to them in a tone that made them wonder if he was being sarcastic. Reeve had made no secret of his disdain for the Turks in the past, so they wouldn't have been surprised if he was disappointed to learn of their survival. He should have expected it though. There were no dead Turks, though, Reeve may not have known that as most of Reno's former underlings went into hiding, presumed dead or retired, shortly before Sephiroth returned.

"Sir?" Rude asked.

"I want you to get these people and anyone else you can down to the slums," Reeve responded. "I think that will be the safest place right now."

Reno and Rude again looked at each other to consider not only his request but the fact that he was asking them at all. He wasn't their boss, but with Rufus missing and all the other executives dead, it seemed Reeve was in charge.

"We were going to get them out of here anyway, but are the slums really safer?" Rude asked.

"Certainly safer than up here at the moment," Reeve shot back. "We need to get everyone off the upper plate."

"Gonna take more than the two of us," Reno retorted, waving his hand dismissively with the other on his hip.

"I'm aware," Reeve said, his eyes narrowing on the redhead. "After Weapon's attack I took it upon myself to request help from the only people left on the planet who lived for danger and were trained for this sort of thing."

"Sir?"

"Your former colleagues," Reeve continued. "They should already be here assisting. I also put out a distress call to AVALANCHE for more help. Now hurry, get these people to safety!"

So, apparently he did not about the Turks in hiding.

The Turks again glanced at each other in confusion before trotting down the massive staircase to the people scattered below. The walls shook as they did so, causing some signs and information terminals to tumble. They had to plant themselves to keep from falling and when they reached the bottom of the staircase, they were ignored by people too scared to leave.

"Please, we have to get out of here, the building's not stable!" Reno pleaded. He was met with glares from the refugees, who clearly still distrusted the Turks and recognized their dark blue suits. "Dammit!" he protested, looking around to see Rude was having similar luck.

The redhead looked around a moment for something he could use to get everyone's attention. At this moment, people were so afraid of what was outside that they didn't fear the suited men inside the building. On any other day, the Turks could have just intimidated people into following their orders, but apparently the refugees had found something worse. He spied a janitor's closet beyond the reception desk and darted toward it as Rude continued to try to persuade people.

Reno returned with a couple cans of spray paint and made his way through the crowd toward a Shinra Hauler SA-37 that had been pushed against the back wall. He climbed up on the hood and walked up to its roof, his boots causing loud, metallic echoes to ring throughout the vehicle showroom. It caught the attention of some of the refugees, who turned to look at the tall, thin man with the paint cans. He began to spray paint a message on the wall in bright orange: "HEAD 4 SLUMS."

Some of the refugees stared at him, confused, when Reno turned back to look at them, hoping he had their attention enough to make an announcement. Before he could say anything, however, another violent shake of the building caused one of the large overhead chandeliers to break. Reno was fast, but Rude was closer when the chandelier fell, leaping toward a woman and child who stood underneath it and shoving them to safely as they all fell to the ground just beyond where the chandelier landed with a crash. The woman thanked Rude before hugging her child close.

The crash of the chandelier quieted the room, giving Reno an opening.

"This building isn't safe, we have to get out of here!" he yelled. "We're going to the nearest train station. We can take the tracks around the main support beam to the slums from there."

The two Turks were able to usher the refugees out of the lobby, though they stopped in horror to gasp at the scene outside. Reno and Rude also took in what was happening. Experiencing it from within was much different than watching it through a window. The orange light had been replaced by white, from Holy, and reflected in their eyes as they stared up into it, two cyclones moving in their attentive orbs. Reno blinked and shook his head to come back to reality. These people needed help and the situation was not getting any better. Whatever this new white light was didn't seem to stop the destruction; just the opposite, in fact. The cyclones in the distance seemed to have picked up their pace, and pieces of buildings seemed to be getting sucked up into Holy.

He and Rude moved toward the front of the group and called for them to follow.

"The train station isn't too far," Reno shouted as he and his partner began walking away from the Shinra building.

The refugees huddled together but followed slowly, cautious of collapsing buildings and falling debris from Meteor. These had been their homes and businesses – and now they were rubble or on fire. The Turks, too, took stock of what was happening to the city they called home. This was their penance for the things they had done to the planet while working for Shinra. The company had taken so much from the planet – with the Turks' help – and it was time to atone. Reno and Rude quietly thought of what they had done to help Shinra and Midgar incur the Gods' wrath as they reached the abandoned train station and began following the tracks down into the slums, spiraling around the central pillar. The Sector 7 plate particularly weighed heavily on them, as always. Neither man had been particularly enthused about dropping it to begin with, but in the end, they followed orders and killed potentially thousands of people. How they were alive at all during this time still astounded them. If anyone deserved to die for their sins, the two Turks thought it was them.

Reeve hadn't given any other instructions other than to get people into the slums. It took quite a while to descend the train tracks to the ground and when they did, they came to a stop.

"Now what?" Reno asked his partner.

"If the plates fall, we'll all be crushed," Rude responded.

"Thanks for rosy picture, partner."

"I don't think we can get out of the city safely; it might be best to stay here for now."

Reno considered it for a moment, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one hip. The plates were wobbling dangerously above, but if one were to break, it wasn't likely to hit the main support pillar. If they were in the middle of the sector on their way out of the city, however, they would be crushed. He sighed and agreed with Rude.

"I guess we're stuck for now, then. Hey, everybody!" he called. "Stay here, against the support pillar. Don't wander into the slums, the plates could collapse." He winced as he said it, remembering what it felt like to be the one making a plate fall. "We're going back up to find more survivors."

A few of the refugees insisted on returning plate-side with them to help others. Back on top, Reno and Rude were shocked to find that the sky was no longer orange or white. The swirling orange storm that surrounded Midgar was replaced with green – the Lifestream. Above them they could see the normal night sky, a hole in the cylinder of the Lifestream as the planet's lifeforce seemed to be disappearing.

"What the—" Reno said, really wishing he had a cigarette right about now.

The lights swirled in the frames of Rude's glasses as he stared up into the sky, trying to figure out what was happening now.

"AVALANCHE," he said simply.

By Gods, those do-gooders must have done something, must have stopped Sephiroth. It was the only explanation. Meteor had vanished in the time the Turks descended the tracks spiraling around the main pillar and returned. They couldn't have been gone more than an hour or two, due to helping the injured and weak among the refugees as they traveled.

When the small group returned to Shinra headquarters, they found Maur and Knife – two ex-Turks – outside helping first responders. Reno knew Knife wasn't her real name, but he honestly couldn't remember if she had ever told him what it was, so he would just have to call her by the name of her weapon, as he had done with all the former underlings. Reno tried to hide his excitement in seeing his old comrades for the first time in years.

"Maur. Knife," he said, nodding slightly to each of them. They returned the gesture.

"Glad to be back, Senpai," Maur said. Knife seemed annoyed, as usual. "The others are out searching the various sectors for survivors."

"Good," Rude said. "Is anyone helping the patients at the hospital?"

"Those new AVALANCHE do-gooders showed up. Reeve sent them there."

"You two stay here, we're going to go get Tseng ourselves," Reno instructed before waving to Rude to follow.

Maur nodded and returned to the first responders to give orders.

The two veteran Turks took off in the direction of the hospital where Tseng was recovering from his injuries at the Temple of the Ancients. After Sephiroth stabbed him, the Turk chief thought he was dead for sure, happy that he got to see Aerith one last time. But as one Cait Sith was solving the puzzle to create the black materia, a second Cait Sith was approaching to continue spying on AVALANCHE. That second Cait Sith dragged Tseng from the Temple and informed the Turks about his condition. Reno and Rude flew immediately by helicopter to find their boss, refusing to allow a distraught Elena to join them. Tseng had been recovering in the best hospital in Midgar ever since. He was about to be released when the calamity began.

Reno and Rude rushed inside the hospital lobby and looked for someone who could direct them to Tseng, if he was even still inside. Meteor may have been gone, but the damage done to Midgar still seemed to be taking its toll on the structures within. Doctors, nurses, and volunteers were all scrambling to move the sickest patients, pushing gurneys and assisting those who could barely walk. The little AVALANCHE ninja ran by while pushing someone in a wheelchair, nearly slicing Reno's leg in the process.

"Watch it, brat!" he hissed at her. She either didn't hear or ignored him.

The Turks struggled to run against the tide of escape, passing damaged walls in a building shaking just as badly as Shinra HQ. They bounded up a stairwell, dodging those trying to flee, and reached Tseng's room.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed looking fairly exhausted. He was wearing his dark blue suit pants, socks, and one shoe. His chest was still heavily bandaged, even though the wound was nearly healed. He was shirtless, apparently exhausted from dressing himself as much as he had. His long, raven hair hung limply about his shoulders, oily from lack of a shower.

"Chief!" his underlings said in unison when they saw him.

Reno grabbed Tseng's remaining clothes as Rude put the man's other shoe on and helped their boss to his feet.

"Time to go, boss," Rude said as he helped Tseng drape an arm around his shoulders.

"Please! You have to get out of he—" a feminine voice yelled from the doorway before realizing who was in the room.

Tifa Lockhart was gripping the sides of the doorframe with both hands, leaning slightly into the room. She looked stunned to see the three Turks looking back at her, most surprised that Tseng was alive. She thought she had seen him die in the Temple of the Ancients. She quickly closed her mouth and looked down the hallway as another voice called out to her.

"C'mon Tifa! This floor's clear!" Cloud Strife said as the Turks watched him run past the door, grabbing Tifa by the hand and pulling her with him. He didn't even turn to look through the doorway; didn't notice the Turks.

On their way out of the building, the Turks noticed a child crying by himself amongst the stampeding horde. The little boy was just standing still and screaming as people rushed past him, avoiding him without registering that he was even there. Reno wasn't exactly a fan of kids (people always suggested when children were around that he was just like them, which irked him), but since he was only carrying Tseng's clothes, he decided to pick up the child and take him with them.

Tseng and Rude looked at each other as the little boy wrapped his arms around Reno's neck so tightly the redhead nearly choked. They both smirked.

"One of yours?" Rude asked.

Reno stuck his tongue out at his partner and glared. "Shut up."

The group remained with other patients heading toward the train station, stopping to assist anyone who tripped or any gurneys that got stuck. Behind them, they could hear the boisterous growl of Barret Wallace, trying to reassure the people escaping that they would be okay and making sure the blame for this disaster was squarely on Shinra's shoulders.

Reno rolled his eyes and adjusted the child in his arms, who had finally settled down enough to stop wailing.

They returned to the end of the train tracks below in the slums. There were now hundreds more people crowded together than there were after they led the first group down here. There wasn't enough room for them all to stay close to the main support pillar, and the Turks noticed immediately the situation was getting out of hand.

"What now?" Reno asked as he looked across the sea of people before them.

Tseng lifted his head and tried to support himself rather than leaning so much of his weight on Rude. He, too, scanned the crowd for anyone he recognized. They were surrounded by strangers and a few members of AVALANCHE who also seemed at a loss for what to do.

"The city isn't safe anymore," Tseng said matter-of-factly.

They could see way off in the distance, beyond the outer wall of the city, the beginning rays of sun poking over a far-off horizon. Morning was coming, and the world still stood.

**End notes: Just some housekeeping. Since Remake only lasted through Midgar, I am forced to accept the other events of the game as they happened in the original. Also, I'm keeping the Turks in their blue uniforms as their change was part of the original version of this story and I'm keeping it. Also, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are dead in this story, relying on the assumption that Biggs and Jessie only lived in one of the alternate timelines.**

**Finally, this story does NOT take place in the Advent Children world. I am adopting Edge, Tseng and Rufus being alive, and some other really minor elements from the movie, but since Remake destroyed that timeline, I'm NOT bringing in Denzel, the remnants, or Geostigma. This story _replaces_ Advent Children.**


	2. A New Home

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies. Also, if you don't like sex scenes, skip the one in this chapter.**

**Updated 6/15/2020: Massive edits throughout. Turk scenes added, as well as new Cloud and Tifa scenes.**

Chapter 2:

When morning came, Meteor, Holy, and the Lifestream were nowhere to be seen, as if the events of the previous night had never happened. Anyone not living in Midgar or Kalm might not have even known anything had happened.

The refugees who had taken shelter in the slums around the main support pillar were still alive. Some had even managed to sleep a few hours once the Lifestream retreated. The little boy Reno found near the hospital, who was no more than 4 or 5 years old, refused to let him go, so the Turk was sitting on the ground cross-legged as the boy slept in his lap. Rude and Tseng continued to give him teasing looks due to his new ward, and the redhead was getting _pretty_ tired of his image being tarnished. Elena had found them during the night and joined the men in commenting on Reno's alleged parenting skills.

When there was enough light to see, Reno began looking around for someone who could take the child. He spotted an elderly woman standing alone nearby who seemed capable enough. She had light gray, almost white hair that was pulled back tightly but then puffed out instead of forming a ponytail. She wore black leggings and a gray robe over a black dress. She looked like the kind of woman who would help out a small child, so Reno took the boy over to her.

"Is he yours?" Marle asked.

"No, I found him near the hospital," Reno replied, sensitive that people assumed it was his kid. "I need to work though…"

"I'll take him," Marle said, extending her arms as Reno pried the boy from his neck. "Come here, baby."

The boy, still sleeping, finally released Reno's neck and put up little fight when he was handed to Marle, instantly wrapping his arms around her neck and snuggling.

"Thanks," Reno said, glad to be free.

Marle nodded and the Turk returned to Tseng and Rude.

"We should look for a way out of the city," he told his comrades.

Reno and Rude left Tseng with Elena in order to scout the surrounding area and find a way out of Midgar. They were in Sector 5, meaning there was a gate leading to the desert badlands surrounding the city if they could just make it across the slums. Luckily for them, most of the Sector 5 plate had never been rebuilt, so they only needed to move people beyond what remained above before they could breathe easy.

They sent ex-Turks Ruluf and Alvis in another direction to see if they could find a better path. Alvis, naturally, complained but eventually took off, vowing to be the one who found the path if he were being forced into search duty. As Reno and Rude walked down one of the streets, climbing over rubble and avoiding still smoldering fires, they could hear the AVALANCHE ninja brat and the ex-Shinra pilot swearing a block away. At some point, Reno caught a glimpse down a side street and noticed a tail with a fiery tip disappear among the buildings along with the ends of a tattered red cape.

"Guess we're not the only ones looking for the exit," he muttered.

The vampire, as Vincent Valentine was called by some at Shinra, and the lion-dog thing weren't the _worst_ members of AVALANCHE to the Turks, but knowing any member was nearby set them on edge. At least Reno hadn't run into any of the female ex-Turks he had slept with when they were still with the company. Small miracles. Rude thought the experience would have made Reno keep his dick in his pants, at least when it came to Shinra employees, but no.

The two veteran Turks were finally able to reach the far end of Sector 5 to find Cloud and Tifa standing in front of the large metal gate. Reno scoffed that AVALANCHE had beaten them to the gate, but he had to admit he did not mind the view of Lockhart's backside. He scanned her bare legs up to her shapely ass, which was barely covered by a black leather miniskirt. It was a view he rarely got to see, since she was usually facing him to fight. His eyes lingered on her a moment too long – he was a little tightly wound from the stress of everything and not getting laid since before Diamond Weapon's attack – until he noticed Vincent and Nanaki appear further to his right, having just found a way through the destruction themselves.

The six warriors were quiet for a moment, and could hear muffled voices on the other side of the gate, though they couldn't understand what was being said. Cloud put his ear up to the gate to try and listen, but it didn't help.

"Well, this looks promising," Reno said a little sarcastically, causing Cloud and Tifa to whirl around in battle stance. Strife had his sword already drawn by the time he faced them. Reno and Rude raised their palms defensively. "Whoa, whoa, we're not here to fight, just lookin' for the exit."

Tifa lowered her fists and Cloud relaxed, returning his sword to its place on his back.

"Can we still open it?" Nanaki asked, padding up to the pair and sitting on his haunches.

"We still have the key," Cloud informed him. "Not sure it'll work with the power being out."

Reno folded his arms across his chest and huffed. Of course AVALANCHE had a key to the city. He didn't know how they got it, but he was instantly struck. Whatever AVALANCHE did, they were praised, at least by a lot of people, even though they killed people just like the Turks. Reno definitely liked the fear he instilled in people and the power he possessed, he just didn't like that AVALANCHE was seen so positively after everything they had done.

The Turks watched as Cloud inserted an old-looking keycard into a slot next to the massive gate. They heard a loud clicking sound from the gate as sparks flew out of the slot for a few moments before disappearing. The gate didn't move. Cloud walked over to where the two massive doors met, placed a hand on either one, and began to pull them apart. His muscles tensed and quaked as he used all his inhuman strength to move the doors apart slightly.

Tifa, the dutiful AVALANCHE lieutenant, approached him to help. Together they moved the doors apart another foot.

"Maybe if we all try?" Cloud asked.

Vincent and Nanaki walked over. Reno and Rude sighed, begrudgingly agreeing to assist AVALANCHE in this mundane task. The Turks took one door while Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent took the other. Nanaki backed up to the door the Turks were pushing and propped his back legs on it in a handstand (pawstand?) position, pushing off the ground with all his might and walking backwards as the door moved.

"Hey, watch where ya swing that thing, will ya?" Reno scolded as he dodged Nanaki's flaming tail.

Between the six of them they were able to shove the doors apart almost entirely, though it took an embarrassing amount of physical effort. Shinra definitely wanted to make sure no one got out of Midgar without proper clearance.

When the doors refused to budge anymore, the group finally noticed that on the other side of the wall was a large-scale disaster-relief area. Men and women in Shinra military uniforms with Junon branch patches on their sleeves were setting up medical equipment and tents for refugees, as well as establishing makeshift kitchens and portable bathrooms.

There appeared to be hundreds working on the project. Reeve must have been on the phone all night with world leaders trying to get aid to Midgar. Reeve may not have been the most imposing of the Shinra executives, but it was clear now what he could accomplish when left to his own devices.

Cloud wiped the sweat from his brow and looked back toward the main support pillar where the refugees remained. "Looks like there's just three paths to get out here," he mused. "Let's try to make them as easy as possible for people to cross as we make our way back."

Reno clicked his tongue and offered a sarcastic salute to the AVALANCHE leader before he and Rude returned down the road they had traveled before. They were already out of earshot when Cloud clutched his head in pain, as he had done the night before on the Highwind. He and Tifa had stayed behind to make sure the Turks didn't try to pull anything. Now she again rushed to Cloud's side. If last night was a fluke caused by Sephiroth and Jenova still dying, what was this, then?

Cloud again assured her it was nothing and that it was probably just a normal headache that he wasn't used to, given his history. Tifa was more skeptical this time, but again didn't push the subject.

The first major obstacle the Turks approached on their way back to the main pillar required moving heavy sections of a stone building that had broken apart during the calamity. The two men stood on either side of one of the sections and lifted with a grunt.

"So, you still like that AVALANCHE chick?" Reno asked his partner as they carried the debris to the side of the road.

"…yeah," Rude offered, looking a little sullen. Reno groaned.

The redhead thought his partner would have gotten over her by now, what with her constantly trying to kill them – while they were trying to kill her, of course. Still, he wished Rude could move past his little crush. It was never going to happen.

They returned to the pillar with relative ease; only a few sections of the path they traversed needed to be cleared or made safe for the refugees. When they arrived, they saw Reeve standing on a makeshift platform addressing the crowd.

"… and it looks like the search teams have returned," he said, turning to the Turks and AVALANCHE members. "Were you able to clear a path to the gate?" Cloud nodded and Reeve turned his attention back to the crowd. "Alright, we need to get out of the city, follow those men out of Midgar, where Junon has set up a disaster-relief zone."

Reno whistled and Rude held up his fist to get people to follow them toward the badlands. The refugees followed much easier this time than the night before, to the Turks' delight. They helped Tseng stagger over obstacles until they returned to the area just beyond Midgar once again.

The Junon crews appeared to know what they were doing once the refugees reached them, guiding them to where they needed to go depending on injuries and physical status. The Turks helped Tseng over to the medical tent to get checked out. He wasn't injured, but they wanted to be sure their chief hadn't agitated his wound during the night's activities. When Tseng was cleared, the four Turks found an unoccupied dome relief tent with four beds and claimed it – at least for the moment. Reno and Rude set down their getaway bags while Elena sat with Tseng on one of the beds. The director was exhausted, but clearly annoyed that he wasn't able to help as much as he would like.

The members of AVALANCHE decided that they would each return to their homes and loved ones once the refugees found their way out of Midgar but agreed to meet in one week at the lake in the Forgotten Capital where Aerith rested. They briefly considered going to see Aerith first, but Barret's desperation to see Marlene again made them reconsider. They left Cait Sith with Reeve as the – former? – Shinra executive continued to organize the relief efforts. After his speech at the support pillar, he hadn't been off the phone for more than a few seconds, calling various other towns to try and shore up support for the Midgar refugees.

Cid dropped everyone off as he made his way back to Rocket Town with the Highwind. He jested that the town should be renamed Airship Town since the rocket was gone.

"Even better," he said, slapping himself on the chest, "they should name it Highwind Town."

He looked at each of the others, eagerly hoping they would agree. They all just stared at him blankly.

Yuffie absconded with much of the group's materia shortly after they landed in Kalm to drop off Barret. The man with the gun arm planned to stay with Elmyra and Marlene for a while before heading off to North Corel to help rebuild the town.

They weren't that concerned about losing their materia. The planet was saved, right? How much did they really need it anymore? Cloud grabbed a few of his favorite orbs while Tifa held on tightly to Aerith's mastered Restore materia.

No one was quite sure when Vincent left the group, as he didn't say a word to anyone. Tifa thought it was while they were saying goodbye to Barret in Kalm. Cid suggested the raven-haired enigma had simply jumped over the side of the airship mid-air. He wasn't suggesting Vincent jumped to his death, but that they knew so little about the ex-Turk that he may have turned into a bat and flown away. Nanaki reminded him that Vincent could have turned into Chaos Beast and wafted into the distance.

Nanaki was taken home to Cosmo Canyon, explaining that he still had much to learn about the world but would do so while taking his rightful place as protector of the canyon, just like his parents had done before him.

When it was down to just Cid, Cloud, and Tifa, the pilot had to ask an uncomfortable question.

"Where to?"

Cloud looked at Tifa, hoping she would have an answer. She did not. Neither of them had a home or loved ones to return to; they only had each other. Gazing into her warm wine-colored eyes, he asked the question he never thought he'd ask her.

"Do you," he hesitated, "think it's time we faced our demons in Nibelheim?"

Tifa blinked, the color vanishing from her cheeks, though her facial expression did not change.

"I… don't know," she said before looking at her feet.

Cloud stepped toward her and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. She raised her head to meet his eyes.

"As long as you're with me, I think I can handle anything," he said.

Tifa closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She opened them again as a nervous smile spread across her lips.

"Yeah, let's go to Nibelheim," she said.

Cid set the airship down and allowed them to disembark. It was just a short trip for him back to Rocket Town now, and though he'd never admit it out loud, he was anxious to see Shera again.

When the roar of the airship was out of earshot, Cloud again looked at Tifa. They were standing just outside the replica town sign.

"What should we do?" he asked.

"Well, I know how to run a bar," she replied. Cloud grinned.

"And I know how to drink," he said, matching her cadence.

Tifa's eyelids dropped as she frowned at him. She didn't say a word, just kept her face solid until he tried again.

"And I know how to carry things…" Cloud added.

Tifa's expression didn't soften.

"… and I can help get supplies."

Finally, Tifa smiled.

"Sounds good," she said, tilting her head.

Cloud's mood lifted and he took her hand in his as the two walked into town.

By the time everyone met at Aerith's lake, Cloud and Tifa realized Nibelheim was not the place for them to settle down. There was a limited amount of property for sale, none of which was large enough to open a bar. On top of that, though the pair no longer felt anxious walking through the rebuilt city, they realized it was too weird to be surrounded by actors hired by Shinra to play townspeople. Of course, by now they were actually townspeople, but the whole feel of the town was different – more like Midgar.

And that's where they felt they would fit in best. Surely Reeve would need more help after the calamity, and the pair felt they needed to continue assisting their former neighbors. They may have just saved the planet, but individual people still needed help.

They all gathered around the lake in the Forgotten Capital a week after Meteor nearly destroyed the planet. Barret brought Marlene and Elmyra with him so they could join in the somber affair. Even Vincent showed up, though he stood away from the group and leaned against a nearby tree with his head hung low.

Cloud took Tifa's hand as they both stepped to the edge of the water. The others joined them and made a semi-circle around the lake. They each took a moment to say something – to thank Aerith for saving the planet and for her sacrifice. When Yuffie tried to speak she burst into tears and stepped back. Barret thanked Aerith for saving Marlene. Cid said she was "one helluva lady."

When it was Elmyra's turn to speak, she squeezed Marlene's hand and took a deep breath.

"I always knew Aerith was special; that she was meant for something far greater than I could ever imagine," she began. "And I was right."

A soft smile escaped her lips as she continued.

"Aerith used to tell me how everyone returned to the planet, but I never really understood until now," Elmyra began to choke back tears. "I know Aerith has returned to the planet, and I know she's watching over all of us."

Tifa wiped tears from her eyes before she spoke.

"Aerith. I didn't know you for that long, but in that short amount of time you became my best friend," she said. "I know you were with us that night on the airship, and I know that you're with us every day – but that won't stop me from missing you."

The tears flowed freely from her eyes as she tried desperately to wipe them away. She tightened her grip on Cloud's hand as he stepped forward to speak.

"Aerith, I…" he began, searching for the right words, "I hope you have forgiven us – me. I know we'll see you again someday."

Cloud turned to wrap his arms around Tifa. Everyone remained quiet for a few minutes to say a silent prayer for their departed friend. Cid was the first to break the silence.

"Ok, everyone," he said, "we have a planet to rebuild."

The rest of AVALANCHE nodded their heads and began leaving the city to return to the airship. Vincent again vanished into thin air without telling anyone where he was going, and again they were unsure whether he boarded the Highwind or just left from the Forgotten Capital.

This time, Cid dropped off Cloud and Tifa to the east of Midgar, where Reeve said the new city was being built.

The city of Edge had already come quite far since the night of the calamity. Former residents of Midgar, including Shinra employees, worked together to build makeshift homes and shops and roads. Within a few weeks, people with specialized skills constructed a new sewer system and electricity system that was able to leach energy from one of the old reactors. That meant using Mako energy, but it was the only way to get people off the streets as quickly as possible.

People from all over the world came to help, in a show of unity never seen before. Yuffie led a team from Wutai. Construction crews from Gongaga and Fort Condor aided in the reconstruction. Scientists and mechanics from Rocket Town began working on a new power system that used coal and oil instead of mako. Even Icicle Inn sent gil and supplies.

Those who lived in the upper plate, though they had lost everything, were far better off than those in the slums once a few bank branches opened in Edge. Despite the collapse, their money was still safe. Those in the slums, who had no access to banks, lost what little money they had been able to save while fleeing the destruction. Soon, however, people from the slums had new jobs alongside former Shinra employees in a city beginning to take shape. Sure, there were class divisions among sections of the town, but everyone now lived under the same sun, with no physical barriers separating them.

In the center of the city, a monument to the Chosen Day was erected. It towered over the street that circled around it. Atop the structure, a metal meteor was placed. At the bottom, a plaque with the date that Meteor nearly destroyed the planet along with the date the monument was established.

Cloud and Tifa stayed in one of the dome relief tents while helping others build sturdy homes before finding a section of land to begin constructing a new bar, with help, of course. It was difficult being alone in the tent, as their hormones kept drawing them to each other. The problem, however, was that the walls of the tent were thin, and there were dozens of other tents in close proximity. They couldn't control their urges, but they were definitely looking forward to having thicker walls so they wouldn't have to stifle their lovemaking.

The other problem, for Cloud at least, was that he couldn't hide his occasional headaches when Tifa was always nearby. They didn't happen often, maybe once a week or every other week, but the worried look on her face made him feel worse than the headaches. He thought these migraines, accompanied by flashes of horrifying visions of his past and possible future, would have stopped when they defeated Sephiroth and Jenova. He was also having occasional nightmares, which was nothing new, but he worried those combined with the continuing headaches meant his life wouldn't be as free as he thought it would be from now on.

Before they began construction on their own bar and home, one of the first buildings Cloud and Tifa helped erect was an orphanage for Marle. Apparently, after Reno left that young boy with her, she started noticing other children who were all alone. She began gathering every scared, lonely child she could in the hopes that if she got them all together, word would spread and parents looking for their missing children could come find them.

Some of the kids did find their families, but others were not so lucky. The people working to rebuild Edge made sure the orphanage had everything the children needed. Some of the children from the old Leaf House found their way to Marle's establishment, though they were sad to report their teachers didn't make it.

Cloud and Tifa provided Marle several million gil once the orphanage opened and promised to provide more if and when she needed it.

"Still the granddaughter I never had," Marle said with her hand over her heart as the barmaid hugged her goodbye after construction was complete. "I am _so_ glad he ended up being good enough for you," she added, eyeing Cloud. "You know what I'm going to say though: Don't you hurt her."

"I won't," Cloud said with a smile, wrapping an arm around Tifa's shoulders and pulling her close.

Tifa never dreamed of a big house or yard; she only wanted a place she could call her own. Within months of her arrival in Edge, news had spread about what she and her companions had done for the planet. She wasn't sure how people found out, but she vowed to use her newfound celebrity status for a good cause. They continued to help build Edge, but they found themselves constantly approached for pictures and autographs as people would ask "are you the guys that saved the planet?"

It bothered Cloud more, since he never wanted the fame and still didn't know how to act around people he didn't know.

Barret came to Edge after leaving Kalm to help Cloud and Tifa build the new city and a new bar before eventually continuing on to North Corel to assist the people there. The three of them were part of a group of volunteers who would venture back into Midgar to find building supplies, such as scrap metal and lumber. Occasionally, they would see the Turks entering or leaving the city with Shinra-branded equipment, including forklifts carrying palettes of unknown supplies and backhoes.

The bottom floor of the structure Tifa and Cloud helped build for themselves was large enough for a bar and a dozen tables. Behind the bar was a storage room, a public restroom, and a staircase leading to a small two-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and two-and-a-half bathrooms. She and Cloud shared a bedroom and left the other open for any of their friends who may want to visit.

The bar was finished first, allowing the couple to spend their days building – and fending off the odd monster that wandered into town – and their nights helping the residents of Edge unwind with alcohol.

Soon after the bar had opened, Tifa began seeing people she recognized – mainly, members of the Turks. At least two or three times a week, Reno and Rude would try to stop in for a drink.

"We don't serve contract killers," Cloud told them as he crossed his arms and leaned against the front doorway the first time they tried to enter.

"Aw, come on, man," Reno pleaded. "Shinra's dead, we're just helping rebuild, like you."

Rude remained silent but Reno knew he was glaring at Cloud behind those dark sunglasses. Tifa soon joined the blond, her face no more accepting. Rude hated to see her frown.

"After all the shit you assholes pulled?" Tifa asked from just behind Cloud's shoulder in the doorway.

"Hey, we didn't _want_ to drop the plate, but you people just wouldn't quit," Reno explained. Tifa visibly tensed, but Cloud remained the same. "Besides, all that's in the past."

"You tried to kill us!" Tifa shouted, remembering her first formal introduction to the two Turks now standing outside her bar.

She had _just_ seen one of her friends, Biggs, lying dead against the Sector 7 pillar after trying to stop Shinra from crushing thousands of people. She was climbing the stairs to join Cloud after asking Aerith to find Marlene. She was rounding a flight of stairs when the Turks' helicopter began firing at her. Bullets whizzed by her head and chest, close enough for her to feel their wind, before the helicopter suddenly jerked and took out the staircase beneath her.

Rude cleared his throat, also remembering how he kept Reno from killing Tifa that day. The bald Turk hated that while _he_ saved Tifa's life, Cloud was the one to reach out to grab her hand and pull her to him on the platform above. Rude had seen the way Cloud held Tifa against him after her near-death experience, and it bothered him.

That episode had been the first time Rude had seen Tifa in months. He first laid eyes on the busty brunette two years earlier when he wandered into Sector 7. It had been awhile since he and Chelsea broke up and the old Midgar AVALANCHE fell. Reno was off chasing some girl at another bar, so Rude went to check out the sector to see if there were any new rumblings from a newly formed AVALANCHE. He was nearing the Seventh Heaven bar when a beautiful young woman, who couldn't have been older than 18 at the time, came rushing toward him on her way inside.

She bumped into Rude, surprisingly hard. Most people who made the mistake of bumping into him ended up injured due to his size and inability to be easily knocked over. But she didn't look hurt at all and when she told him "sorry" in a genuine tone, he knew she was not originally from Midgar. He was smitten immediately, and would sneak away sometimes while Reno was pursuing a woman to catch a glimpse of the young barmaid.

"You tried to kill _us_!" Reno retorted.

"Out!" Cloud commanded, pointing in the direction behind the two Turks and slamming the door in their faces.

Tifa and Cloud tried to keep the Turks out for as long as they could, even though the suckers kept trying. Business, however, was slow-going in the beginning. The bar itself became famous quickly because of its owners, but people didn't have a lot of money to spend – even on alcohol – while Edge was getting off the ground. The AVALANCHE leaders soon realized they couldn't afford to turn away any customers, especially not two who drank as much as the Turks.

Sure, they had millions of gil left over from their adventures even after giving some to Marle and building and furnished the new Seventh Heaven as well as their upstairs home, but they put what money remained away in case others needed it and for them to maybe, one day, be at a place where they didn't feel like they needed to fill every second of their day with some kind of work.

Once the Turks were finally allowed into the bar, Rude would usually sit at the counter and stare silently into his drink for hours. Occasionally he would say something to Tifa, but it was never more than a few words at a time. Reno would sit next to him, with his back to the bar and his elbows resting on the polished rosewood. He'd spend his nights scoping for women, and on many occasions left the bar accompanied by one. Every once in a while, Elena would join them. She would try to get Rude to talk, but failed often, and more likely ended up arguing with Reno over something political. Tifa tried her best to avoid getting sucked into any of their conversations. Even months after Meteor, and even though they were helping to rebuild while _not_ trying to kill her, she still had some pent-up rage about the destruction of Sector 7.

When the apartment upstairs was finished, Cloud swept Tifa up in his arms bridal style and carried her up the stairs and over the threshold as she laughed. He didn't set her down at the door, however, instead taking her straight into their bedroom and tossing her onto their bed without objection.

Tifa propped herself up on her elbows and motioned with Cloud to come closer by bending her index finger. Cloud happily obliged, placing a hand on either side of her hips and leaning toward her until their lips met. He kissed her hungrily, pushing her head back into the pillow as he climbed on top of her. They were both so tired of having to be quiet that they skipped the foreplay, ripping each other's clothes off as they kissed fiercely.

Cloud entered her as soon as he had removed his boxer briefs, her body ready and willing for his cock. The usual slow and tenderness of their sexual encounters was replaced by wild thrusts and hurried kisses. Cloud thrust into Tifa hard enough to force her back against the headboard before he'd grab her hips and pull her back down. Tifa wrapped her arms around his waist to try and stay in place, bucking her hips against Cloud's to deepen the penetration. Cloud was naturally quieter than Tifa during these moments, even when given the ability to let loose, but he moaned with wanton abandon.

"Oh, fuck, Teef!" he said as he pushed deep inside her, scrunching his eyes closed as she tightened around his cock.

He opened his eyes again to watch her breasts bouncing beneath him. He may have wanted her so badly that he skipped the foreplay, but his mouth now found her nipple eagerly. Tifa moaned loudly as he pounded her, placing her palms on the headboard behind her to push herself into him when he thrust.

Cloud sat back up to watch the gorgeous woman writhing beneath him. He still couldn't believe she had stayed with him after Meteor was destroyed. He never in a million years thought he would be this lucky; to end up with the girl next door, the girl he had a crush on since he was a teenager.

Tifa, likewise, had been thinking since Nibelheim that Cloud would get sick of her when it was just the two of them, even though he had always seemed to act more like himself when he was around her than anyone else in AVALANCHE – Aerith included. Still, Tifa worried that Cloud had, in fact, loved the Ancient and was only choosing her because she happened to still be alive.

In this moment, however, her thoughts were elsewhere as she and Cloud came together with the much-needed release that had been building up since they first moved to Edge nearly six months ago. Tifa saw stars as her fluids mixed with Cloud's, for once being together in the comfort of a home they could call their own.

It seemed that just as Cloud finished releasing into her, one of his headaches struck. It was the second one this week. Tifa slid off his cock and put a hand on his shoulder, which he tried to bat away. He had never liked bothering anyone whenever these flashes would occur, but he was especially sensitive to their effect on Tifa now that they were happening when they should have stopped.

For a while, Tifa thought she was living her dream. She tended bar, while Cloud brought in more supplies and helped keep the place clean. He also took odd jobs helping people in dangerous situations, which led to him getting paid with a free motorbike called Fenrir. The bike quickly became the second-most important thing in his life next to Tifa.

She and Cloud spent their nights in each other's arms, a happy couple.

But about six months after the bar opened – and nearly a year after the calamity – she noticed Cloud's flashbacks and nightmares were getting worse. At first, he was troubled by nightmares at night, which she didn't think was odd given his past. She, too, found herself having nightmares at least once a week. By now, however, Cloud was having 3 or 4 nightmares a week. As time wore on, he started having just as many headaches a week.

In the beginning, she accepted his explanations that they were different than what he had in the past, but she always knew better. The incidents appeared as they had when she first found him outside the train in Sector 7, when he was clinging to life.

His demeanor began to change as the flashbacks increased. Whereas before he flirted openly with her even around patrons, now he bristled when she touched him. She wasn't sure if it was the flashbacks or if he suffered from wanderlust, but she became depressed. She wondered if he was simply incapable of settling down in one place. She had enjoyed traveling the world with her friends, but she always dreamed of having a home and settling down.

She knew the nightmares and flashbacks sometimes involved the fire in Nibelheim and her near-death experience with Sephiroth, but most of Cloud's recent demons revolved around his inability to save Aerith, it seemed.

She felt like she did when they were traveling, when she was unsure of his feelings toward her. He had confessed his feelings under the Highwind before their final battle – and many times since – but now she worried those feelings were fading. She didn't know what to do.

She tried to go on as best she could. She tried holding him, asking him what was wrong. Sometimes he wouldn't answer, other times he would hug her but not say a word. She hoped that whatever he was going through, he would someday let her in, that he would stop spending all his time away from the bar or working on Fenrir in the garage.

But it was not to be. One evening, now a year-and-a half after Meteor, Cloud approached Tifa as she was closing up the bar.

"Can we talk?" he asked, his voice low.

Tifa nervously agreed, though she could feel a pit forming in her stomach. The two sat down at a table and Cloud twiddled his thumbs, not looking at her.

"I think I need to go away for a while," he said.

Tifa's heart sank.

"Why? Where?" she asked. Cloud looked into her eyes, which were glistening with the promise of tears.

"I know I said I was going to live to overcome my sins, but it's getting harder and harder," he said. "I need… forgiveness, but I don't know how to get it."

"Is that why you mentioned it when we were at Aerith's lake?"

Cloud nodded his head.

"I think I need to ask her directly."

"So, do it. You can do that anywhere!" Tifa pleaded, not meaning to sound so harsh.

Cloud was taken aback but shook his head.

"I've tried. I don't think she can hear me – or she won't forgive me."

"Of course she will!" Tifa exclaimed. "I don't think she ever blamed you, she wouldn't!"

"I need to know for sure."

"How do you plan on finding out?"

"I want to go talk to her. Alone."

"Will you come back?"

At that question Cloud stiffened. Tears began to fall from Tifa's eyes and her heart started beating so fast she thought it would explode out of her chest. Cloud noticed her despair and took her hands in his, kissing her knuckles.

"Tifa, I love you," he said.

"Answer the question."

"If I find forgiveness, I'll come back."

His answer didn't satisfy her. It sounded like he may never come back. How could he find forgiveness from Aerith, who was dead and probably never blamed him to begin with? If he didn't find it while asking her here in the bar, how could he find it up north or anywhere else? It sounded to Tifa almost as if Cloud was breaking up with her but wanted to keep the option open – and she knew she would be there for him if and when he returned.

He had been pulling away for six months, and she was miserable, but she was willing to suffer if it meant being with Cloud. Even if he slept in the guest bedroom now, even if he didn't touch her anymore. He was here, and he was hers. She had decided that would be enough for her even if she knew in her heart it was wrong. They had one year of bliss before the headaches had become worse and he started pulling away.

During that previous year, she thought her life was perfect. Cloud was the boyfriend she always dreamed he would be. He was charming and caring, and funny and flirtatious when he was around her.

"So, you may never come back?" Tifa sobbed, pounding her fist on the table. Cloud again kissed her knuckles.

"I hope it won't come to that," he said weakly. His words didn't reassure her in the least.

Cloud stood up and walked to her side of the table and crouched beside her. He wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could and kissed her on the top of her head. He pulled away after a moment and slowly headed for the door.

"I'm sorry," he said softly as he closed the door behind him.

Tifa slumped onto the table, finally having the massive cry she had been trying to suppress since Cloud started pulling away. She had cried many times over the past six months when she was alone in her room waiting and hoping for Cloud to join her, but this was different. She screamed into her folded arms about how this couldn't be happening. Cloud couldn't really be leaving her, could he? After everything they had been through, he was just going to abandon her for Aerith? Maybe he'd find forgiveness quickly and return to her?

She heard Fenrir's engine roar to life and quickly disappear. She lifted her head up and sniffled, her cheeks red and soaked with tears. She thought back over all the times they laughed together, all the times he told her he loved her, all the times he kissed her for no reason. She didn't want to believe that this was a breakup, even if her heart felt broken.

But he was gone, and she had no idea if he would ever come back.


	3. It Begins

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/16/2020: Edits throughout. Additional scenes of Tifa fretting over Cloud and with the Turks added.**

Chapter 3:

Tonight was the night. After his first drink, he would order a second and try to strike up a conversation with the barmaid. But what would he talk about?

Okay, maybe after the second drink. But seriously, what should he talk about? The weather? Cliché. Her favorite music? Lame.

Maybe he needed three drinks.

Think, Rude, think.

All he ever did was think; it was the talking part he was not good at, especially when it came to _her_.

He had been going to her new bar for nearly a year but had said little more than a few words to her. Most of that was his drink orders. Occasionally he would clear his throat as if he were about to speak, but no words would come.

He knew it was ridiculous. He'd known Tifa Lockhart for years. Okay, not _known_, as she had been his enemy and refused to speak with him, but known in the sense that they were aware of each other's existence for nearly two years. He should be able to find things to talk to her about, but starting a conversation with "hey remember that time we tried to kill you?" didn't seem like the best way to get on her good side.

He had thought bringing Reno along would calm his nerves, but he quickly found the redhead was still not adept at the whole "wingman" thing. Instead, Reno would find his own woman for the night, without so much as trying to break the ice for Rude.

_Flashback…_

"Seriously man?" Rude asked after Reno had done this several times.

"What?" the redhead replied nonchalantly, removing a cigarette from its pack and lighting it up after they were out of the bar. A busty woman with fried blonde hair stood next to Reno, hanging on his shoulder and nipping at his earlobe.

"You can't take _five minutes_ to help me out in there?" Rude scowled.

"What do you want me to do? You think she'll respond to me any better than you?"

"Baby, this is borrrring," the woman whined, dramatically stomping her foot like a child. "You said we were going back to your place—" she glared at Rude "—alone."

"Would you give me a minute, yo?" Reno barked at her. The woman quieted down but pouted.

"No, but you're better at this kind of thing than me…" Rude continued.

Reno blew air through his lips and ran his free hand through his hair, taking care to avoid his goggles. "Alright, fine. Tomorrow," he said, pointing a finger at Rude. "I'll help you out but you're gonna owe me and I'm telling you, it's not gonna help."

_Present day…_

Rude and Reno had been going to the new Seventh Heaven as soon as it opened. Well, not _as soon_, since Tifa and Cloud hadn't let them in at first. Reno had sworn at them but Rude remained silent, as always. After a couple weeks, however, they were allowed in, begrudgingly. Neither Cloud nor Tifa would look at them, except to hand them their drinks. And the only words spoken to them were to ask what they wanted to drink. Once Tifa learned they would always order the same thing – her most expensive scotch – she stopped saying anything to them at all. She'd just put the drink on the bar in front of them and walk away. If Rude wasn't so hopelessly attracted to her, she wouldn't have deserved a tip.

Rude tried to psych himself up several times a week to no avail. It felt like every time he was ready to talk to her about something other than alcohol, Cloud would appear near her. At first, whenever Rude prepared to say something to Tifa, Cloud would seemingly materialize out of thin air and kiss her, or flirt with her. Rude resigned himself to admiring her from afar or waiting the relationship out.

He wasn't some lovesick puppy, he told himself, he just found Tifa so damn fascinating and different from other women. Other women clawed at the Turks like cats with a ball of yarn. Too many wanted a man with power, and while Reno might take advantage of that, Rude had always wanted something more. He wanted a woman who would challenge him, both physically and mentally.

He always thought he could have a debate with Tifa as long as it wasn't related to Shinra. He hadn't had too many interactions with her, but something about the way she carried herself let him know she would have lots to contribute to a conversation. He, on the other hand, lacked in that department.

Physically, though, he wanted a chance to spar with her one-on-one. Not even in a sexual way, though of course he wanted that, too. They never had a chance to fight alone and really test their skills as Reno and other AVALANCHE members were always there. On top of the pillar, Reno kept putting her in one of his pyramid spells and in Gongaga, the two Turks struggled against Cloud and the lion-dog thing. Not that Barret hadn't been a challenge up on the pillar, but that cat had already proven to them once how difficult he was to fight. Also, the three members of AVALANCHE were well rested when they fought the Turks in Gongaga, instead of just having fought their way through Shinra troops on the Sector 7 support pillar.

Lately, it looked like Rude's patience might pay off. Cloud no longer kissed Tifa or even touched her. The two seemed cold to each other, and about two months ago, Rude stopped seeing Cloud in the bar altogether. At first, he just figured Cloud was taking an odd job or two, but when the weeks stretched into months it seemed impossible that Cloud would be gone _that much_. Rude's suspicions were confirmed when he saw a tabloid article announcing Cloud and Tifa had a bitter breakup and she was heartbroken. He knew those papers were trash and probably got most of the details wrong, but Cloud _was_ definitely gone.

Tifa's demeanor had changed dramatically during that time as well. When Cloud first stopped flirting with her, she started to lose her spark, unless he was around. Then she'd seem to be _overly_ sweet and flirtatious with Cloud and sometimes other customers for tips. Never with the Turks, though, much to Rude's dismay.

But over the past two months, Tifa's spirits had completely cratered. She barely smiled and when she did it was clearly forced and weak. Her shoulders slumped and she grew pale and a little thinner. She was still beautiful, but it was clear to a Turk that she didn't see herself that way anymore.

It was also clear to the bald Turk that on more than one occasion she would cry in the back storage room. Sometimes he'd catch her returning to the bar with red, puffy eyes and a pink nose. She tried her best to hide it from the customers, and others either didn't seem to notice or didn't bother to ask. When someone _would_ ask – usually something like, "How can someone so beautiful look so sad?" – she'd offer a fake laugh and blame her allergies.

Rude didn't want to ask Tifa about Cloud's absence, as he was astute enough to realize that would be a sore subject. He considered asking Reno for discussion topics but felt his redheaded friend would make a vulgar suggestion that wouldn't be too helpful. Tonight, Rude was actually dreading what Reno might do to "help" him with Tifa. The redhead had no class in these matters, why had he asked for his help in the first place? He should have asked Elena or Tseng to come. Elena hated Tifa, but she liked Rude, so maybe she would have agreed to help. Tseng may have been just as quiet a man as Rude, but who knows, maybe he'd have an idea. Rude was embarrassed enough to ask _anyone_ for help and hated that his coworkers knew about his crush.

The bald man suddenly realized he was right outside Seventh Heaven and still didn't know how to start a conversation with Tifa or what Reno planned to do.

"Earth to Rude," Reno said, tapping his knuckles on his friend's bald head.

Rude realized Reno had been making several attempts to start a conversation, but he had missed all of them.

"Yeah," he said.

"You weren't even listening," Reno said, shaking his head and tossing his cigarette butt on the sidewalk.

The two entered the bar, which had become crowded as more homes were built in Edge and businesses returned to the area. People had gil to spare and steam to let off, and Tifa's bar was well known for good drinks and an attractive, famous bartender.

Rude sat at his usual stool. In the beginning, when there weren't many people in the bar, it wasn't difficult to sit in the same seat night after night. After a while, the Turks would enter and their seats would be taken. The other patrons quickly realized who they were dealing with, and the seats were either ignored or abandoned when they entered.

Reno sat beside him, his eyes wandering around the bar for talent. Tifa served them their regular drinks before they even ordered. As usual, she said nothing to them and spent as little time near them as possible. When she'd turn her attention to other patrons, Rude couldn't help but wish he could come up with a way to make her smile.

"How about her?" Reno asked, tapping Rude on the shoulder with the back of his hand.

Rude shifted in his seat and looked over his shoulder. He didn't see the woman to which Reno was referring but nodded his head and grunted.

"There's not even a woman over there," Reno said. "Geez, you're being thick tonight, even worse than usual."

Rude grunted again to show his dissatisfaction with Reno's tricks.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough," Reno groaned. "I'm going to fix this."

"How?" Rude asked.

Reno ignored him and raised his hand to get Tifa's attention.

"Barmaid, oh _barmaid_," he called to her, elongating the last word and leaning halfway over the bar and waving his arm frantically.

Tifa glared at him and sucked in her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and started to walk over.

"What?" she asked with a certain amount of venom in her tone. Reno was unscathed.

"That's no way to talk to your two best customers," he said with a grin. Tifa rolled her eyes again.

"What?" Tifa asked again, more forcefully this time.

"When ya gonna let that go, yo?"

"Let it go? Let it _go_?" Tifa snarled. "_You_ killed my friends in Sector 7. You _also_ tried to kill me and my friends multiple times."

"Yeah but that was _back then_," Reno said, his tone light and friendly. "We were just following orders."

Rude saw Tifa's eyes widen with rage and her nostrils flare. She looked as though she were trying to set Reno on fire just by staring at him. The redhead didn't notice as he sat back in his seat and casually inspected his fingernails.

"Just – just following _orders_?" Tifa looked as though she were about to explode. "Get out."

"Whoa, hey," Reno objected, bending his elbows and facing his palms toward Tifa in defense. "We're not like that anymore. We're security now."

His words did not seem to assuage Tifa's anger. While this was not how Rude imagined his discussion with her going, he felt the need to interject.

"We're sorry," he said, letting his shoulders drop and lowering his head.

Tifa couldn't tell due to his sunglasses but his eyes really did show sincerity. She had been about to throw the Turks out no matter what the damage, but she softened. Slightly.

Reno looked at his coworker in shock. Turks don't apologize, certainly not to eco-terrorists.

"Yeah, we're sorry," Reno said, without Rude's sincerity. "Sorry we dropped the plate on Sector 7 after you killed people by blowing up _two_ reactors."

He ended his statement with a grin and held up two fingers for emphasis. Rude looked at him a moment and then shook his head. Tonight was _not_ his night. He got up and began pushing Reno out the door before Tifa could leap over the bar to strangle him, which seemed like her next move.

Outside, Rude shoved Reno so hard the redhead fell on his backside.

"Hey man, what the hell?" Reno asked.

Rude started walking down the street away from the bar. Reno quickly got up and followed.

"You know I'm right," Reno said, defiantly. Rude sighed.

"That doesn't mean you had to say it," Rude replied. Reno was surprised by the amount of words in his friend's sentence. It was the most he had said all day.

Reno placed his hands behind his head and thought for a moment.

"Guess I ruined your chance tonight, huh?"

Rude said nothing.

_A week later…_

Tifa was polishing the bar forcefully in order to keep from crying again. She had always found cleaning to be cathartic, and she had needed a release recently. She found herself polishing the bar over and over again each day, trying to keep her mind off of her loneliness.

More than two months had passed since Cloud left, and he hadn't so much as called. For the first few weeks, she was depressed but hopeful that he would come walking through that front door any second to apologize and say he had found forgiveness or whatever it was he was really looking for. But as the weeks dragged on, she lost hope. After a few weeks she gathered up the courage to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. Texts went unanswered, as did more phone calls.

After a month – and a lengthy conversation with Marle – she came to the conclusion that it _was_ a breakup.

_Flashback…_

"Oh, honey, I hate to say this, but it's been a month…" Marle said with downcast eyes, placing her hand over Tifa's as the young brunette cried.

The two met regularly to talk about life and the bar and the orphanage, and Tifa had been going to Marle a lot more after Cloud left. She couldn't count the number of times she had broken down in Marle's arms, feeling like a teenager who had just been dumped for the first time. Tifa knew what Marle was going to say next, but she didn't want to hear it.

"Please. Don't say it," she sobbed from her place hunched over the kitchen table in Marle's home, her face buried in her arms once again. Marle squeezed her arm.

"You're so young and beautiful," the older woman offered instead.

This had essentially the same effect, as it caused Tifa to sob louder. If she were so beautiful, why did Cloud leave? What was wrong with her? These were questions she asked Marle again and again during their visits, and each time Marle would give the same answers: Cloud left because he always had issues, not because of anything _she_ had done or not done, and nothing was wrong with her.

"You could have any man you wanted," Marle said once without thinking.

"There's only one man I want," Tifa said through tears.

Marle hated to see her "adopted" granddaughter this upset. It reminded her of when Master Zangan first brought the girl to Marle's home in Sector 7. Tifa was 15, severely wounded, and traumatized. Zangan had taken her to a doctor to save her life and then to Marle, begging his old friend to care for his most talented young student. Marle, naturally, asked what had happened to the young girl, but Zangan told her he couldn't say because it could put Marle in danger.

Marle took in the girl and nursed her back to health, worrying every day that her injury was too severe and that she would die in Marle's home. But Tifa survived. At first, she was terrified of the Sector 7 slums. Zangan had told her before taking her to Marle's that she couldn't tell anyone where she was from or what had happened to her. Sephiroth had burned Nibelheim but Shinra forced the papers not to report the incident. The company rebuilt the town and hired actors to pretend to be lifelong citizens, and Zangan worried that Shinra would come after anyone who knew the truth.

Tifa was quiet and depressed for a long time after arriving in the slums. Marle eventually got through to her, however, and got Tifa training again. By the time she was 16, Tifa was part of the neighborhood watch and the sector's best fighter. Her wound healed except for a disfiguring gash she was able to hide under her tank top.

Marle knew about heartache, and she knew that Tifa would get through Cloud just as she had gotten through the Nibelheim incident. Still, the older woman knew it would take a long time for Tifa to get past Cloud, as she had told Marle all about him when she was a teenager.

"Cloud will come save me. He promised," teenage Tifa would say sometimes when she was upset or in trouble and Marle was around.

By the time Cloud really _did_ show up, Marle was less than impressed with him. He was nearly as weak as Tifa had been when _she_ first showed up in the slums. But Marle saw the way he looked at Tifa and thought that with some work, he might grow up into a nice man.

She was wrong.

"I know, baby," she said in response to Tifa saying she only wanted Cloud. "But we don't know if he's ever coming back."

Marle had infinite patience. She took care of a dozen orphans and still made time to sit and listen to Tifa cry over the same person day after day without showing any exhaustion or irritation. Tifa herself got sick of crying over Cloud long before Marle showed any indication of the same.

The young woman knew that continuing to think Cloud would come back because of their childhood promise was silly. She had only told him she wanted to experience being rescued by her hero once, and Cloud had more than fulfilled that promise. She couldn't count the number of times during their previous adventure that he saved her from falling after the ground crumbled beneath them or when a fiend had her pinned.

He didn't owe her anything anymore, and maybe that's what this was really all about.

"I need to make lunch for the kids, would you like to help?" Marle asked as Tifa continued to sulk.

The brunette lifted her head a little and nodded with a sniffle. She and Marle made sandwiches for all the children and ate with them. Tifa didn't smile, but she didn't feel like crying anymore after sitting with the children.

_Present day…_

Tifa started helping Marle regularly with the orphans to take her mind off Cloud. Some days she checked in on Chocobo Sam and the new taxi service he started in Edge. On other days she would train with Jules at his new gym or chat with Andrea. She was also still helping to build Edge most days, but she would have to stop earlier than she used to when Cloud was still around so she could prepare her bar for the evening. She still cried herself to sleep at night, but after two months without Cloud, she was starting to hold it together at work better.

Part of that was the fact that business had picked up considerably since the days when they were so hard up for cash that they allowed the Turks to enter.

The Turks. Tifa stopped cleaning and leaned against the bar. She was still angry at what Reno had said to her. It wasn't so much _that_ he said it or how, but the fact that she had always felt she was really to blame for the plate falling on Sector 7. Her bar was AVALANCHE's base of operations, and if they hadn't blown up those reactors, Shinra wouldn't have come after them and all those people.

Reno had always had this way of tapping into a person's deepest pain. It's probably why he was a Turk, she thought.

Tifa shook her head and scoffed. Neither Reno nor Rude had been back to the bar since that night, and though she missed Rude's generous tips, she didn't miss their presence. The bar was at a point where she didn't need their patronage, but at this point she knew she couldn't just ban them from her business, as much as she would like to.

As if the Gods were listening and wanting to play a trick on her, Tifa heard a knock on the front door to the bar, bringing her back from her thoughts. She strolled over and opened the door to find Rude standing outside in his trademark blue suit and sunglasses.

Tifa tried to close the door but his hand shot out to hold it open.

"I'm here to apologize," he said, bracing the door open with his shoulder. His tone displayed his usual lack of emotion. The bald Turk had realized last week that if he were ever going to turn his crush into anything more, he would have to take matters into his own hands.

"For what?" Tifa asked, still keeping the door partially closed.

"For… everything," Rude said. "For the other night, for Reno, for Sector 7, for everything that happened back then, for _Reno_."

The corner of Tifa's lip twitched ever so slightly at his last words but quickly faded. She could never forgive the Turks. Still, he was here and apologizing and they had helped people escape Meteor. They also had been good customers up until last week. She was also surprised to hear him put an entire sentence together. She opened the door to give him permission to enter the bar without saying a word. Rude walked straight to his usual stool and sat down. Tifa returned to the other side of the bar.

"You've got to know," Rude said, looking down at the rosewood, "back then, we thought we were doing the right thing."

Tifa said nothing and resumed cleaning. How could he and the other Turks possibly think they were the good guys?

"We worked for Shinra, which provided power for the people," Rude continued. "And AVALANCHE was trying to take that away."

"But Shinra was killing the planet, how can you possibly think you were the good guys?" Tifa asked.

"I never saw myself as a good guy, but I was protecting my employer."

"And Reno?"

"Shinra was everything to Reno."

Tifa sighed. Before she could respond, she and Rude heard shouting outside. People were in distress. Without a second thought she jumped over the bar and ran for the door. Rude was right behind her.

Tifa looked around for the source of the noise. She could hear screaming from around the block and the sound of buildings being smashed. She ran around the corner to find a large elfadunk had found its way this far into town and was panicking. As people ran and screamed it became more agitated and was using its tusks to damage nearby homes.

Tifa had become used to helping cull the monster population as the city was built out. At first, they had to fight back a lot of fiends as they built the city in the open plains, but those attacks seemed to die down once city limits were established. After that, it was rare for a monster to wander into town, but for the past year or so, the attacks had steadily escalated. Tifa was now fighting monsters every day outside her bar or on the way to Marle's or the theater she was now helping to build. This elfadunk was the second attack she faced today.

Tifa ran up to the beast and punched it in the face. It moved to gore her with its tusks, but Rude appeared next to her and caught its attention with an uppercut to the throat. The creature screeched and thrashed wildly. Rude was able to leap out of its way, as the creature seemed fixated on Tifa. She spun around to kick it, but the beast used its tusks to lift her into the air and then shook its head to throw her into the side of a nearby building.

Tifa lifted her head up from the pavement to see a pair of skinny legs standing in front of her. They were wearing fitted blue dress pants. Her eyes slowly looked up and she saw a hand with long, slender fingers extended toward her. She continued to raise her eyes until she realized that Reno stood in front of her, his hand outstretched.

"Need some help?" he asked while sporting his trademark grin.

Tifa knocked his hand away with her own and shook her head.

"Not from _you_," she said, coldly.

Before she could get up on her own, she watched as Reno moved his right hand to reach out to her once again while his free hand reached for his weapon. Tifa saw every move he made from that point on as if it were moving in slow motion, yet he was not. Her eyes widened as he unhooked his Electro Mag Rod from his belt and brought the weapon up in front of her. He pushed the button to power it up, and Tifa prepared herself for its sting.

Gods, she had always hated that weapon of his. If he wasn't jabbing her with thousands of volts of electricity, he was encasing her in a golden pyramid that _also_ sent thousands of volts of electricity through her body, while also locking her in place, unable to get away. She'd twitch for hours after a fight with the redheaded Turk, cursing his name all the while.

Reno never took his eyes off of Tifa. Once he had brought his weapon up, he stretched it out to his side. The bartender could hear the sound of the weapon colliding with something, and scrunched her eyes closed to avoid the bright sparks.

When she opened her eyes again, Reno was still standing over her. His hand was still reaching for her, but to his side lay the body of the elfadunk.

"Yeah, I think you do," he said with a smirk.

Tifa let out a huff and glared at him, reluctantly accepting his offer to help her up.

Without another word to Reno or Rude, Tifa returned to Seventh Heaven and flipped on the "open" sign. Before the door even closed behind her, the Turks had entered and were heading to their usual seats. She didn't even need to see them enter to know that it was them behind her, the stench of the elfadunk still heavy in the air. She poured them each a glass of scotch and busied herself in the storage room until she heard more customers arrive.

"Hey! Thanks for leavin' me to fight the fiends by myself, partner," Reno scolded after Tifa had left their view.

Rude took a sip of his drink without acknowledging Reno's comment. "Too much for you to handle?" the bald Turk quipped.

"Tch, no, but next time you're gonna disappear on me let me know."

Rude continued to stare straight forward as if something on the liquor shelf was really interesting. "I was making sure we could still drink here," he said, holding his glass in front of his lips.

"Oh, is that what you were doing?"

"Yeah."

"And how did you do that?"

"I apologized to her. For real."

Reno seemed taken aback by Rude's admission, even though he had witnessed the man apologize the week before.

"She'll never forgive us," Reno said after a moment of thought, staring into his drink wistfully.

"Well, I'm gonna keep trying."

By this time a few more customers entered the bar and sat down, prompting Tifa to return from the storage room and start serving. Rude stared into his glass of scotch as usual, again trying to come up with something that might make Tifa smile. Reno spun in his bar stool to look around the room. There were a few pretty women sitting at a table on the opposite wall, but Reno's attention turned to Tifa.

He noticed the change in her just as Rude had, he was a Turk after all. Though it wouldn't take special Turk perception skills to see a woman who was heartbroken. He felt something deep within him as he looked at her tonight, something long kept dormant that seemed to be suddenly clawing at his insides. He took another sip of his drink, having to crane his neck down to his glass as he was leaning back on the bar on his elbows.

Maybe Rude was right about apologizing. The Turks and AVALANCHE weren't enemies anymore, in fact, for the past year-and-a-half or so they'd been working alongside – albeit not literally – to build Edge and keep the fiends at bay. Reno had certainly dropped his animosity toward Tifa during that time, since she was his favorite barkeep. He couldn't say the same of the other members of AVALANCHE. Strife always annoyed him, what with the bipolar way in which he treated Tifa and that giant sword of his. _Clearly compensating for something_, Reno told himself. Barret was just a big oaf with rage issues. The vampire may have been an ex-Turk but that was before Reno was even born. The ninja was an annoying brat he could do without, the Ancient was dead, the lion dog scratched him too many times. He probably could have gotten along with Cid, since they both smoked and liked to pilot aircraft, but Reno had always hated people that reminded him too much of himself. He also didn't like Reeve personally and would never be caught dead with the little robot cat and moogle.

No, Tifa was the only member of AVALANCHE he could stand, and it wasn't just because of her looks. She always seemed different from the others. Reno had read her file at Shinra, he knew she had just as much – if not _more_ – of a reason to hate Shinra than the rest of that ragtag group of assholes, yet he constantly caught her questioning their actions. It wouldn't make her a good Turk, that's for sure, but it seemed to make her more… moral… than the rest of them.

He could hear Tifa mixing a drink behind him, so he spun around to watch her shake the mixer. She was so much fun to watch. Her back was to him, as she was constantly aware of the distance between them.

Reno took a deep breath. He could do this. For Rude.

"You know, Lockhart, we don't do that Turk shit anymore," he said.

She continued mixing as if she hadn't heard him. Rude turned to his partner, his eyebrows visible above his sunglasses and his mouth slightly agape. Could Reno _really_ be trying to be a decent human being for once?

Tifa opened the shaker and poured a drink before taking it to a woman at the other end of the bar. Reno watched as she offered that fake smile of hers to appear friendly for tips. Tifa then leaned against her hands on the bar and zoned out for a moment. Reno saw her nostril twitch. She was about to take the bait. She flinched in distress before turning to walk back toward the Turks. It was eating at her.

"If you don't do that 'Turk shit' anymore," she accentuated using air quotes, "then why do you still wear those uniforms every day?"

"Because we look _damn_ good in them, babe," he said, leaning back from the bar enough to give her a better view of his chest.

Rude rolled his eyes. Tifa narrowed her eyes and approached the bar, closer than she usually got to them unless she was giving them another drink. She leaned slightly forward and pursed her lips.

"So, all those rumors that Rufus survived are just…" she suggested incredulously, waving a hand dismissively.

She was astute, he had to give her that. The two Turks in front of her took just a split second too long to answer her.

"…rumors," Reno finished her sentence, but the damage was already done. At least he didn't tell her how he and Rude found Rufus two weeks after the calamity in an underground bunker at Shinra headquarters, injured from a fall. He also didn't tell her how they spent the next few months acting as Rufus' bodyguards while he "recovered" at Healen Lodge. And he _certainly_ didn't tell her that Rufus was helping to fund most of the reconstruction and public services. Did she think Reeve was funding all this?

"So, it's true!" she exclaimed, accidentally alerting some patrons to their conversation. She lowered her head and whispered. "He's alive?"

"We didn't say that," Rude interjected quickly.

Tifa stood back up and clicked her tongue. "That bastard," she said, shaking her head. "I knew you all were like cockroaches. You never die. Only good people die." She looked sullen again and returned to her other customers for a while.

"Way to go," Rude said, elbowing Reno in the side.

"I didn't see you lying to her," the redhead retorted.

Rude sneered. Reno was better at lying than this. Rude couldn't lie to Tifa, but Reno shouldn't have had that problem.

When Tifa came back to give them new drinks, Reno tried again.

"Yanno, a lot of bad people died too – Sephiroth, Heidegger, Scarlet, the first president, Hojo," he informed her before she could disappear again.

Tifa appeared to consider his claim and nodded, her face expressionless. At least Reno recognized he worked with terrible people. Could there be redemption for the Turks? The men who dropped the plate on Sector 7? Who kidnapped Aerith? They hadn't put up a fight in Wutai, in fact, they kind of worked together when Don Corneo took Yuffie and Elena. They also let them pass in Midgar as they traveled to the Shinra building for the last time.

But then she thought back to that day on the pillar. How they shot at her and Cloud from the helicopter – how Cloud saved her then, too – and how they attacked them on top of the pillar. Reno jumped from the helicopter trying to attack Cloud before running past him to the main control panel and activating the plate separation sequence. She thought of the stings from his mag rod and how he seemed to keep her in a pyramid the entire fight. For the brief moments she was free, Rude tried to avoid her attacks without hurting her. She definitely thought she was treated differently than the men she was fighting alongside.

Tifa remembered how helpless she felt as she stared at the control panel, knowing that even though the pillar separation hadn't been authorized, she couldn't do anything to stop what Reno had started.

And then the whispers came.

The next thing she knew, she was flung backwards several feet. When she looked up, _Rude_ was standing at the control panel, confirming the sector's fate.

No, she couldn't forgive them. But maybe she could tolerate them now that they weren't so murderous.

Rude watched Tifa clearly battle with something silently. She was visibly angry for a moment before softening when a customer called to her. He sensed she was thinking about him and Reno. If only she knew how badly they didn't want to drop the plate, and how awful they felt about it after.

_Flashback…_

They were in the helicopter over the train graveyard in Sector 7, cloaked in the darkness of the plate at night, when they received the call they had been dreading.

"Understood," Rude said, ending the call and turning to Reno. "The AVALANCHE mission's been approved. We are to proceed as planned."

"This is bullshit. What the hell are they thinking?" Reno asked, his voice heavy.

"'Threats to public order are to be summarily put down,'" Rude quoted, no hint of emotion in his voice. "This is what we've always done."

"'Summarily put down,'" Reno quoted back, letting his gaze fall to his left to look out the window. Neither man said anything for a moment, each thinking about what they had signed up for. They weren't ones to question their orders, but this mission… "Guess it's a little late to grow a conscience," Reno said with a smirk.

A few minutes later, Tseng gave them the plate separation code – again – as if the two veteran Turks couldn't remember a simple password. It was really happening. He and Rude were really going to become some of Gaia's worst mass murderers.

"Yeah, yeah, of course I do! We can drop the damn thing whenever…" Reno said from the co-pilot's chair of the helicopter. While he considered himself Shinra's best helicopter pilot, he'd gladly give the controls over to Rude if it meant he got to fire the weapons at slum rats. "It's just that…"

The helicopter jerked as members of AVALANCHE shot at them.

"You got a death wish or something?" Reno growled at Rude. "Because I sure as shit don't."

"Reno, what's happening? Do we have a problem?" Tseng asked over the helicopter's communications device.

"Not really. Small arms fire from some local boys trying to defend the pillar," the redhead responded."

"More would-be heroes, huh?" Tseng smirked. "Sending reinforcements. The more players that take the stage, the better."

It was pretty poetic, coming from their usually brusque leader.

"So, that's what we are, huh?" Reno mused as he leaned back into his seat.

"Contact me when the mission is complete," Tseng said, offering no reassurance.

They did their jobs. Reno nearly died supporting his employer, but as he recovered on the General Affairs' auditing department couch, he and his partner couldn't shake their guilt. The pillar had fallen the night before, and they had been rather quiet ever since. Reno had nightmares as he slept in the sick bay. He had escaped – thanks to Rude – before the plate fell, but when he slept he saw the faces of mothers and children as they screamed for their lives. He didn't know anyone in Sector 7 except for the AVALANCHE assholes, yet even some of _their_ faces haunted his dreams.

He shifted uncomfortably on the couch as Tseng filled out paperwork, calm as ever, as if he hadn't just given the order to murder thousands of people.

"You know, Reno," Tseng said suddenly. "I think you might be due for some R&R." At least Tseng was compassionate – to some.

Reno lifted his right arm, which was still in pain from his two fights with Cloud Strife and being caught in the helicopter explosion.

"Nah, I'm good…" he lied, his face still bandaged from his injuries.

Rude, too, had been suffering. Silently, of course.

"What are we going to do about Sector 7?" he asked their leader.

Tseng huffed, unhappy that his two best subordinates seemed to be regretting their work. "'We' are going to do nothing," he said.

"Been thinking. Was all that necessary?" Rude continued.

"Had we refused, someone else would've completed the task," Tseng replied, annoyed. "We have spared that someone the burden of a guilty conscience. Perhaps that will ease yours."

"Yeah… nope," Reno sighed. Tseng couldn't really have thought that would work, could he?

Tseng leaned back in his chair, getting agitated with this conversation. "Let's try another tack then," he said. "They were a sacrifice to balance the scales."

Reno turned his head as best he could, his neck sore. "Say what?"

"After everything we've taken from the planet, we were due to give something back," Tseng offered, returning to his paperwork.

"Do you actually believe that?" Rude asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table and look at Tseng pointedly from behind his sunglasses.

"Does it matter? Tseng asked.

Before they could discuss further, another call came in. Rufus was back.

_Present day…_

"We really do regret what happened back then," Rude said when Tifa again returned to their part of the bar. She regarded him darkly, hating the constant drudging up of her past that occurred when the Turks were around. "We really aren't in that sort of business anymore."

Tifa sighed, letting her chest drop as she considered his words. Could she trust a Turk? No. No she could not.

"Well, hey, how about this, then?" Reno piped in. "If you ever hear about us gettin' back into that shit, you can come kick our asses personally. We won't even fight back."

He grinned and smacked Rude on the shoulder as if to indicate for him to agree. Rude responded with a barely discernible nod. He didn't know what Rufus would order them to do, and he didn't much like the idea of agreeing to his own death, even if it was at the hands of Tifa Lockhart.

And then he saw something he never could imagine. Tifa Lockhart _smiled_ at Reno's offer. He didn't think she even realized she was doing it, it seemed so foreign given her past few months.

"I'll hold you to that," she said, _almost_ jokingly. Reno seemed pretty proud of himself.

Tifa finally realized she was smiling and wiped the smirk from her mouth, turning quickly to see if any customers out at the tables needed anything.

It had been the first time she genuinely smiled in about eight months. And it was because of a _Turk_.

**End notes: I am fixing the timeline. At this point in the story, Cloud started withdrawing a year after Meteor. He withdrew for six months before finally leaving. It has been two months since he left now.**


	4. Threat

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/17/2020: Edits throughout. Added additional scenes involving monster attacks around the world and with Tifa and the Turks.**

Chapter 4:

The setting sun in Wutai hovered between the large wooden pillars of the torii that stood at the entrance to the city's western side, where the ancient pagoda and Godo's palace sat. The bright orange orb sat just below the crown of the archway, perched above the line of mountains stretching against the horizon, casting those mountains in a deep purple. They sky above the mountain peaks was an orangey pink, stretching out from either side of the sun. Further north, the sky faded into pink, purple, and finally dark blue, with the first twinkling stars of night visible to those who looked hard enough.

A gentle breeze disturbed the Wutain maple trees, which cast their shadows long against the buildings of Eastern Wutai. The canal that ran through the city flowed quietly in the evening, reflecting the colors of the sky in its small waves.

The town was peaceful, the residents quietly home with their families and settling in for the night. As they went about their lives – eating dinner, watching TV, enjoying a conversation – their quiet was interrupted by a loud, bird-like shriek.

It echoed off the Da Chao cliffs and reverberated within the walls of the dwellings and shops, halting most citizens in place while inciting others to action.

"Guards!"

It was the fifth time that day authorities had been summoned by a townsperson, and they knew what it meant: Another monster had entered Wutai. The city protectors stationed at the main gate drew their weapons in an attempt to get the creature to stay outside the city limits but had been pushed back toward Yuffie's house. They were quickly joined by residents armed with their own swords or random pieces of equipment they decided to use as weapons. By the time the city's main defenders arrived, the fiend was already surrounded by people who were repeatedly trying to jab it with pointy things.

The wild garuda slashed and pecked at the villagers around it, managing to swipe one off his feet with a thrust of its muscular arm. One of the guards lunged forward and stabbed the creature with his katana. The beast raised its head and cried out in pain but continued to fight, the sword still sticking out of its shoulder. It threw its head to the side and knocked the guard back several feet. It got a hold of another guard and threw him into some of the armed citizens.

A small, lone figured watched from a distance at the scene taking place just inside the city. She was crouched upon the roof of her house, silhouetted against the second floor of the building behind her. Yuffie Kisaragi had never seen so many monsters get into the town in one day before, and she had _certainly_ never seen any put up such a fight. As she watched the garuda take out the guards and residents, she readied her Conformer.

She held the weapon in front of her, flattened, and looked down the length of it as if it were the scope on a gun. She pointed it right at the garuda's head and followed its movements. She then tightened her grip on the weapon, bent her elbow to raise it back to her shoulder, and with one effortless motion, hurled the Conformer at the beast, slashing its neck. Blood shot out of the creature's jugular, splattering some of the people fighting it, before it fell to its side in the dirt. The residents and guards lowered their weapons, slightly confused by the projectile that had just killed their target. They quickly realized what had happened and looked around for the young woman who had helped them.

They wouldn't find her. Yuffie caught her Conformer as smoothly as she had thrown it, disappearing into the night to consider what was happening to her homeland.

_Cosmo Canyon…_

Nanaki leapt onto the griffin's back, latching onto its hide with his claws and clamping down onto its feathery neck with his teeth. The creature shook its neck violently, trying its best to throw the red beast, but its focus was broken long enough for others in Cosmo Canyon to advance.

The creature had broken through the first set of barriers at the base of the canyon, the city's first line of defense. Nanaki had been out hunting when he heard the two familiar guards grunting and yelling at the monster. He galloped toward them and then past them without a word, leaping onto the griffin. Those two guards had now each stabbed it in the chest with their swords, killing it instantly. It fell to the ground before Nanaki even let go of its neck.

He landed, as always, on all fours, and turned to face the guards.

"That's the tenth monster this week to break through our barriers," one of the guards told the red lion.

"It's never been this bad before," said the other.

Nanaki shook his head and looked up at Bugenhagen's observatory.

"What's going on, Grandpa?" he asked, knowing he would receive no answer.

The attacks had become more frequent over the past year and seemed to be escalating at an even quicker pace during the past few months. Nanaki now spent much of his days patrolling the lower canyon for fiends to try to kill them before they could reach the first sets of guards. If the current trend continued, the monsters could reach the main city within months. Nanaki was determined not to let that happen.

He had returned to Cosmo Canyon with the promise that he would protect the people of the small spiritual community as his father, the great warrior Seto, had done decades earlier. Nanaki was still young by his species' standards, now just 50, but he was determined to lead and protect as if he were an adult. He had to. It was his destiny, even if he and his AVALANCHE companions had destroyed destiny nearly two years ago. The people of Cosmo Canyon still believed in it, and so did their protector.

_North Corel…_

"Fire in the hole!" Barret yelled as he pressed an Ice materia into his weapon and opened fire on the three bombs threatening the coal miners.

The rotund fiery little demon spawns hurled fire balls at Barret, who held his gun arm up to protect himself from their attacks. A couple of the miners behind him tossed grenades at the creatures, which only served to anger them. One gritted its teeth and began shaking, increasing its mass by about 50%.

Barret motioned for his team to get deeper into the mine. They had just finished their lunch break and were heading back to work when they felt the intense heat radiating from the bombs. Barret had groaned – they had battled at least a dozen monsters this week. North Corel had grown considerably in the past year and a half, but it was not prepared for the increase in monster attacks that had started a year ago. The town no longer relied on tents as homes; people had upgraded to small huts and cabins as they worked to establish businesses and roads.

When Barret first returned, the people of North Corel still shunned him, even though he had been with Cid to stop the train from colliding with the town. He refused to give up and eventually convinced the people to let him see if there was still coal in the mines. There was, so he led a team to start mining again. He was able to use some of the money made from providing coal to to replace mako as a way to start drilling for oil in the fields around North Corel. Again, he was successful and was able to turn a once decimated town into the energy capital of the world. He was put in charge but refused to take anything for himself until the town was more prosperous. He built a small, two-bedroom shack for himself and Marlene but put every gil he made from his oil fields back into the town.

He would alternate his days between working the oil fields and helping the miners. He could never be someone like Reeve, who sat in an office all day making decisions. Barret had to be on the ground, with the people, or else he'd go stir crazy.

In addition to his duties with the town's commodities, he also helped train people to fight the monsters that were regularly attacking. He couldn't remember a time in all of his adventures where the world's cities had been so unsafe.

The two smaller bombs had now grown in size, while the larger one increased again. Barret knew the warning signs, called for his men to get as far into the mine as possible.

"Get the fuck outta here, it's gonna blow!" he growled, turning to run for cover himself.

He leapt into the air just as the bomb exploded, extending his good arm and his gun arm out to brace himself for landing. He twisted to land on his shoulder and rolled into a crouched position, pieces of the monster singing his skin and clothing. He felt weak, having been closer to the fiend than anyone else, but with what strength he had left he lifted his gun arm and fired at the two remaining bombs.

Barret woke up a few minutes later as a miner poured a phoenix down into his mouth. The bombs were dead, and his men had all survived. He scratched his head and blinked a few times, looking toward the entrance of the mine where the bombs had attacked.

"This shit is gettin' nuts," he said to no one in particular.

_Rocket Town…_

Cid was struggling to lead the scientists who made up his hometown in an effort to kill the swarm of kyuvilduns that had infested the rocket launch pad. The fiends stabbed his employees with their long beaks and clawed them with their spiny front legs. Cid jumped into the air to drive his spear into the carapace of one of creatures. Its red eyes tried to find what had attacked it but couldn't move its head to look up. Cid wrenched his sword from its back as black ooze seeped from where he had broken its shell.

He really hated bugs.

At one point, one of the beasts made it into the pilot's backyard while he was fighting another one elsewhere in town. When he returned home, he found a dead kyuvildun in his backyard; its face burned. Shera had thrown the pot of boiling water she had made for tea on it.

"I told you your tea is too damn hot," Cid told her. Shera shrugged.

Cid had to admit he was impressed with Shera's skills. When the monster attacks started increasing, he thought he would have to spend his days protecting her instead of working, as she refused to stay home and do nothing – even if it meant staying alive.

But Shera had proven herself more than capable at taking on the monsters that seemed to be infiltrating the town several times a day. She wasn't skilled in any particular weapon, so she would just use whatever was lying around, such as boiling water or one of Cid's tools. Since the monster attacks had become so frequent, however, he bought her a double-barrel shotgun just to be safe.

He already had to patch several holes in the wall of their home.

After the last bug was squashed, Cid's phone started ringing. He answered it, still looking over the dead body and wondering how he would remove it from his property.

"Hello? You too? I've been busy here. Every day. Yeah, sorry, no way I can leave now," Cid said before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Shera asked.

"Nanaki. Looks like the canyon is gettin' fuckin' overrun with monsters, too."

"He wanted your help?"

"Yeah. Apparently, he asked Barret for help, but North Corel is gettin' the shit kicked outta them as well."

"Hmm," Shera said, crossing her arms and hanging her head in thought.

Cid knew that look, she was trying to think of some scientific way to stop the monster attacks, but with a village as small as Rocket Town, it would be difficult to build something so impressive while fending off the daily attacks. As it stood, several scientists had to quit in order to patrol for monsters full-time. Cid wasn't happy about it, and he helped out during every battle, but it was all they could do. They had never needed a dedicated police force before, and he was damned if he was gonna ask Reeve to help him out.

_Edge…_

"Hello?" Tifa answered her phone. "Oh, hi Nanaki."

The red beast had a special phone made so he could call his friends after they parted ways. It consisted of a head piece with an attached microphone and voice-operated calling features. Reeve had it made for him, modified from one of the contraptions he used to control Cait Sith. It was a little crude, and the voice commands didn't always pick up what Nanaki was saying, but he managed. It was better than being cut off from the friends he missed so dearly.

"Yeah, it's getting really bad here, too," Tifa said in response to Nanaki's question. "Did you try Cid? Barret? Yuffie? Really?"

Tifa didn't bother asking whether he had reached out to Reeve, Cloud, or Vincent. Reeve was too busy planning Edge to take control of Cait Sith again, Cloud never answered his phone, and Vincent didn't even have one. Tifa hadn't even _seen_ Vincent since they all met at Aerith's lake a year and a half ago. She'd at least been able to contact all her other friends – except Cloud, once he left – to keep up with their lives and see how they were doing. She had… neglected to tell any of them that Cloud left, however. They'd ask how he was doing, and she'd cover it up by saying he was "good" or "just stepped out." She didn't know how much longer they would believe her.

"Do you have any idea what's causing it?" Tifa asked. Nanaki wasn't sure, but he suspected that the calamity had something to do with the increase in monsters.

"I wish I could come help, but we're struggling here as it is," she said, before Nanaki asked another question. "Um.. it's just me and the Turks."

Tifa had to hold the phone away from her ear at Nanaki's surprised exclamation.

"I know, but that's all I have," she answered. "If you find out anything else, let me know."

Tifa hung up and stared out the window. Her friends were in trouble, and she couldn't leave to help them.

She was struggling to keep Edge safe. It had been weeks since the elfadunk attack, and since then, dozens of monsters had caused havoc around town. The Turks took care of most of them, but Tifa helped when she ran her daily errands or when they were outside her bar.

The consistent attacks made her miss Cloud and her companions more than ever. They had been a team. She had rarely had to fight on her own. She was used to Cloud being by her side, slashing his sword wildly while she made sure his flanks were protected. If he were still here, she'd have no trouble with all the fights. It would feel like old times. Now she was more aware than ever that Cloud was gone.

Now she found herself relying on the Turks – the Turks! – for help in dispatching the monsters. In fact, the Turks were actually around to help her _a lot_, lately. It seemed like every time a monster was attacking the street outside her business; the Turks were already on it or showed up just after she started pummeling the fiend. She hated to admit it, but she was glad they were there.

She was still cold to them, but she didn't completely ignore them like she used to. They were in her bar almost every night of the week – her most loyal customers, which unnerved her. She hadn't stopped hating them, but they were the only consistent thing in her life right now, and that somehow comforted her in some creepy way she tried not to think about.

When it was time to open the bar for the evening, Tifa walked over to the front door to flip on the lighted sign outside. She had no sooner taken her finger off the switch when the door opened, causing the bells above to jingle. A slender man with flaming red hair walked in wearing an immaculate dark blue suit with an unbuttoned jacket, revealing an untucked white dress shirt underneath that was wrinkled and haphazardly buttoned itself.

"Hiya, Lockhart," Reno said as he followed Tifa to the bar. Rude wasn't with him.

She didn't even acknowledge him, as she wasn't used to either of them coming in alone. They were almost always together; rarely with Elena. Tifa could have sworn she had seen Tseng in the hospital on the Chosen Day, but he hadn't come to the bar with the others and she didn't hear them talk about him. Of course, she didn't pay attention to their conversations, so that could be the reason.

Reno sat in his usual seat as Tifa walked behind the bar to prepare for more desirable customers. Not that the standard barflies were pleasant by any means, but they were preferable to Reno.

"So, about that drink you owe me," the young Turk said, undeterred by her silent treatment.

That got Tifa's attention. She snapped her head around to throw him a puzzled look.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, for saving your ass from that elfadunk the other day?"

Tifa's expression didn't change.

"And I must say, it was a fine ass to save," Reno said, his eyes glancing down.

Tifa placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him, making a mental note not to walk too close to her former enemy.

"That was weeks ago," she informed him harshly, raising one hand into the air with her palm turned upward. "And where's your partner in crime?"

"Oh, he'll be in later," Reno replied. "Got held up at work so I thought I'd come bother ya."

The truth was, Rude was on a date that Elena had set up for him. Elena, too, wanted Rude to get over Tifa and thought that if Rude just met a woman who was smart and pretty and actually _interested_ in him, he might forget about the barmaid.

"Great," Tifa said sarcastically. Reno feigned an injury to his heart.

"Ouch, is that any way to talk to the man who saved your life?"

"You didn't save my life," she sneered. "If anything, you distracted me from defending myself."

"Oh? You find me distracting?"

Tifa rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant."

Reno grinned at her and winked.

"Sure, Lockhart. Now, about that drink?"

"Fine, you can have _one _free drink. What do you want?"

"The usual."

Tifa grabbed a tumbler from the shelf behind the bar and placed it in front of Reno before grabbing her finest bottle of scotch – the one he always ordered – and pouring it in his glass, shorting him by about a half-inch. He noticed but said nothing, content enough with the fact that she was giving him free alcohol at all.

"Here," she said, forcefully, before pushing the glass closer to him. Reno picked it up and swirled the liquid inside before bringing it to his lips for a sip. He let out a sigh indicating his approval.

"That's the stuff," he said.

Tifa went back to her work as more customers entered the bar. As the room filled up, she was able to forget about Reno and busy herself with other patrons. She had been a little shaken by his comments. Was he… flirting with her? It was an odd development; one she didn't like. She might have caught him staring at her anatomy before, vaguely remembered an errant comment or two during their fights back before Meteorfall, but the idea of him thinking for one second that he had a chance with her made her blood boil. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of him even _looking_ at her.

She didn't notice that his eyes were trained on her almost the entire night, as if he were studying her.

_Flashback…_

"Hey, Rude. Who do you like?" Reno asked his friend and partner as they waited for AVALANCHE along the forest path to Gongaga. It was their first assignment since the plate dropped, and though they were thankful to be back out in the field – they hated office work – they did appreciate the break. They were rarely ever in the Shinra building, even though they lived there. They were always out on missions, sleeping in hotels or tents if necessary. The office meant paperwork and boredom – but they made the most of it by pranking their fellow employees, which meant people stayed out of their way when they were in HQ. No, their apartments were only there so they could say they had a home. They had both grown up in the slums in unstable homes, so the idea of having their own place that couldn't go away unless _they_ chose seemed like a good idea.

In truth, Reno had only asked the question so that he could tell Rude about who _he_ liked. He had expected Rude to say Elena, their newest coworker, so that he could impress and confuse his partner by revealing who he had become infatuated with.

It had happened weeks earlier, in Midgar. Reno was a skilled fighter and had never expected to meet a woman who could match him in a battle. The women he usually bed didn't put up much of a fight, so he was surprised that he had become attracted to one who could.

It was when her heel first clipped his jaw that he had become enamored. A moment before impact, he had noticed a glimpse of white beneath her skirt. He would later credit that with distracting him just long enough for her foot to make contact with his face. He knew right then that he was smitten, though he would never call it that.

But he also realized he was there to work. He knew that continuing to fight with her would distract him from pushing the button to destroy the pillar holding up Sector 7. She was just as quick and agile as he was, matching his every move; he had to take her out of the equation. He used his EMR to construct a pyramid-shaped force field around her, freezing her in place so that he could concentrate on taking out her companions.

Her presence, however, was enough to distract him. He found himself glancing over at her as she remained imprisoned, suspended in air, chest raised, writhing in pain from the electricity coursing through her veins. The first time Reno saw her in that state, his left eye twitched and Cloud Strife was able to knock him off balance.

When the force field was finally broken, Reno reinstated it. He soon realized that her male companions might get wise to him, so he alternated his pyramids on them as well and tried to focus his attention on the party member that was neither imprisoned nor blessed with great tits.

He had taken quite a beating atop the pillar before the chopper crashed and Rude joined the fight. Reno lasted a little longer against the AVALANCHE rats, but finally succumbed to his injuries. Those rats didn't play fair – that was _his_ move. If Rude hadn't been able to get to main control panel, Reno would have cost them the mission. No, _she_ would have cost them the mission. If it hadn't been for her legs and tits, Reno might have been able to concentrate.

As he lay around the office recovering, he found his mind drifting back to her quite often. He hadn't felt this way before and didn't understand it. Lust, he understood, but not whatever it was he was feeling in addition to sexual urges.

He began imagining himself fighting with her, seeing it as some alternate version of sex; the give and take, the sweat and grunting, the conquest. He would close his eyes and imagine her running toward him, ready to attack. He would imagine her arm cocked and her fist prepared to punch him, her breasts bouncing as she kicked and leapt to avoid his own attacks, and her skirt unable to cover her as she spun her toned legs around him. It was those thoughts that made him almost want to take Tseng up on his R&R offer – but then he might not get to see her again for a while, and he _had_ to know if that unexplainable feeling he had was just a fluke; he wanted it to go away.

It was weird, he thought, that he was now getting turned on by a battle. He had gotten into some weird fetishes over the years, some of which had come and gone (literally _and_ figuratively). He would always gleefully fill Rude in on his latest kinks and had been wanting to ask him who he was fawning over these days just so he could explain. He stuck his tongue out between his teeth and readied himself for Rude's answer by rocking back and forth on the balls his feet in a fighting stance.

"…Tifa," Rude said, bringing Reno back down to earth.

The redhead didn't know how to respond. Rude had knocked the wind out of his metaphorical sails. Now Reno _couldn't_ tell him that he also liked Tifa. He mentally kicked himself for bringing this whole thing up.

"Hmmm," Reno replied, at a loss for words. "That's a tough one. But, poor Elena. She… you…"

Reno really had thought that Rude liked Elena. They seemed to get along so well, and Reno much preferred his partner like the short-haired blonde and not the long-haired brunette that spent her evenings twirling in Reno's imagination.

"No, she likes Tseng," Rude said, plainly.

"I never knew that! But Tseng likes that Ancient…"

Neither had time to finish their conversation before Cloud, that lion-dog thing, and _she_ appeared.

_Present day…_

Ever since Reno first saw her, he couldn't get her out of his head. After his conversation with Rude, however, he tried to suppress his attraction and find comfort in the arms of many different women. He never told Rude about his own feelings for the barmaid and had managed to nearly forget about her by the time Meteor came around, since by then he hadn't seen her in months. In fact, until the night of the calamity, he hadn't seen her since Gongaga, except on monitors and television screens as she and AVALANCHE traveled the plant - and of course, in his dreams.

Before then, he realized that he was not just attracted to the fight in Tifa, although he very much wanted to fight her again – alone. There was something more. No, not her personality, as he didn't _really_ know her. It was the air about her. Despite the way she dressed, she seemed so pure, so innocent. Something about that made Reno want to corrupt her.

The women he was used to certainly didn't have that same aura. Not even Aerith had it. During their days following Sephiroth, Reno had suspected that Tifa was a virgin. The thought of taking that away from her drove him crazy.

Since he had been coming to Seventh Heaven with Rude and seeing how she interacted with Cloud, however, he knew that was not the case. Yet still she had that aura of innocence about her. He figured Cloud just couldn't dirty her up enough. Reno knew that if he got the chance, he could pound that purity right the hell out of her.

But he knew he would never get a chance if he kept antagonizing her, even if the look of anger on her face turned him on. If he were ever to conquer her, he would have to play nice, and he told himself that conquering her was all he wanted from the busty brunette.

"Another drink?" she asked, bringing him back to reality. He hadn't noticed how long he had been zoned out. He nodded meekly at her and she turned around to grab his favorite bottle of scotch. His eyes focused on her posterior as she did so.

"So, where's Cloud?" Reno heard himself ask, scrunching his face in disappointment at his choice of question.

Some old habits die hard.

He could see Tifa's muscles tighten at the mention of the pokey-headed dork's name. It delighted Reno, even if he knew instantly he had chosen the wrong discussion topic. Still, the tenseness of her muscles showed them off, and he knew that even if he couldn't turn things around tonight, he would have plenty to imagine later.

"He's out," she said, straightening her back but not turning to face him just yet.

"For three months?" Reno pressed. He just couldn't help himself.

Tifa took a deep breath before turning around to pour Reno another drink.

"Yes," she said. "He's out picking up supplies."

Reno knew she was lying and decided to keep picking.

"If I knew a woman like you were at home waiting for me, I'd never leave," he said, looking into her eyes with a smirk. His comments and expression frightened Tifa a little, combined with his earlier flirtations. She took a step back from him, bumping into the liquor shelf behind her. He kept his eyes focused on hers. "Yanno, his head looks like a chocobo's butt."

Tifa chortled but quickly caught herself. Had _Reno_ just made her laugh? She covered her mouth with her hand and steeled her expression. This _murderer_ may have made her smile a few weeks ago, but he would _not_ make her laugh, nor would they become friendly. She didn't even know why his statement made her laugh. Maybe it was the fact that the usually vulgar-tongued Reno used the word "butt" instead of "ass," or maybe it was because someone finally insulted Cloud and she was in a place to hear it. He had been gone three months, after all.

Marle would never go so far as to tear down Cloud, knowing how it would make Tifa feel. She kept her comments about the blond tepid, saying just enough to comfort Tifa.

"He's not out for supplies, is he?" Reno asked after Tifa had helped another customer.

Tifa stared at him for a moment, her expression becoming stony as she tried to keep his words from stinging her heart.

"We all have our demons, Reno," she said simply.

Her words burrowed into Reno's brain. He hadn't expected her to meet his barbs with such a comment. He knew she was referring to Cloud, but he felt the comment could have applied to Tifa herself or even to him.

Tifa resumed waiting on other customers, only returning to Reno when he needed another drink. He could tell that he had gotten to her, as her demeanor changed after her conversation with him. He wasn't satisfied though. He had told himself to stop angering her, and immediately failed as he _tried_ to anger her to get her to look at him as she had a month ago. Seeing her sad made him feel… guilty. He hated that. He was a Turk. Guilt was not part of the job description or an approved emotion. He felt guilt after the plate dropped and had vowed never to let it wash over him again. He failed at that, too.

Rude joined him an hour or so later. Reno slapped him on the back to welcome him to the "party" and let his partner capture his attention instead of Tifa. He had started a dangerous game by flirting with her tonight, even if it was just a couple of comments. His best friend had a crush on the same woman, and Reno knew how wrong it would be if he tried to pursue her. So, he now felt _that_ guilt as well. The only solace he could take was the fact that she would never, probably, in a million years ever even _consider_ one of them. Not when the blond Boy Wonder could come back at any minute.

"Earth to Reno," Rude said, tapping his knuckles against the side of the redhead's temple, as Reno had done a month ago the night he pissed off Tifa.

"Hey, knock it off!" he replied, swatting Rude's hand away. The bald man smirked.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Nope," Reno said, trying to control the corners of his lips that kept wanting to curl upward. Rude noticed, but assumed Reno had antagonized Tifa again, something the redhead seemed to enjoy. "So, I take it no luck?"

Rude scoffed. "No. She reminded me too much of you."

Reno tried not to smile by biting his lips but failed. Then he tried not to smile wider but failed that, too. _Then_ he tried not to laugh but, again, failed. Elena had set Rude up with a woman like Reno. Elena thought Rude would actually _like _a female Reno. He had to wipe a tear from his eye by the time Rude spoke again.

"It's not funny!" Rude pouted, making a mental note to kill Elena.

His blind date had red hair, more orange than crimson, and honey-colored eyes and a feral grin. She was talkative and shared too much information about herself and had a sardonic sense of humor. Maybe she was what Rude needed, but she certainly wasn't what he wanted, and he didn't appreciate Elena's implications.

As it neared last call, Rude started standing up to pay his tab.

"Think I'm gonna head home early, it's been a hell of a night," he said, placing a large stack of gil on the bar – far more than Tifa deserved for the way she treated the Turks.

"I think I'll stay a bit. Maybe we spend too much time together…" Reno offered, pulling a sneer from Rude as the bald Turk turned to leave the bar.

Reno ordered another drink and watched Tifa as she cleaned up the empty tables. That used to be Cloud's job. When she was done with the tables, she moved back to the bar and announced that it was last call. She served a couple customers and began wiping down the bar itself.

"So, what are your demons?" Reno asked her when she was in earshot.

The question startled her, and she met his gaze.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You said earlier that we all have our demons," Reno said. "What are yours?"

"I am not discussing that with you," she said, harshly. She wasn't about to give him more ammunition to use against her. She thought he was like a child who picked at their scabs. He would use whatever she said against her in the future.

"Want to know mine?" he asked with his trademark grin.

"Not really," she said without looking at him, continuing to polish the rosewood.

"Sector 7 is one of my demons," Reno said. "I've always felt bad about it, yanno."

Tifa stopped cleaning but didn't look at him. She hadn't expected him to say that. She figured he was only saying that to get her to open up and returned to her work. Reno may have told her a few weeks ago that they didn't do that "Turk shit" anymore, but she never expected him to genuinely apologize for what happened. And in fact, that's not what he was doing right now.

"At the time, I thought you all were the bad guys," Reno continued, staring at the last few drops of liquor in his drink. "As we went on, I started to question my loyalty to Shinra, but that was my employer, yanno?"

"You kept going," Tifa said, looking Reno right in the eyes. "You gave no indication to us that you were questioning anything."

"Didn't you ever wonder if you were really doing the right thing?" Reno asked her. "But you kept on going, too, didn't you?"

Tifa had to admit that he was right. She had been nervous before she helped Cloud and Barret destroy the second reactor, and she _certainly_ questioned her role in AVALANCHE after the Sector 7 plate fell. But she continued on; she had to, for her friends and for the planet.

"Sometimes…" she responded, before returning to her polishing.

Reno nodded and finished the last of his drink. He paused before placing the glass down on the bar, instead continuing to move the glass as if he were swirling the non-existent liquid inside.

"We all have our demons," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.


	5. Deep Wounds

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/18/2020: Edits throughout. Additional scenes with Tifa and the Turks to show how they have become friendly. Also new scenes with Marle and Yuffie. These chapters are going from around 2,000 words to more than 6,000 words, so there is a lot of new content.**

Chapter 5:

_What are your demons?_

The words echoed in Tifa's head as she struggled to sleep. She had been tossing and turning for hours, unable to get the words Reno said to her out of her head. Sure, she was the one who first brought up the concept of "demons," but she was referring to Cloud.

She had convinced herself in her grief over Cloud's leaving that he was simply battling the demons of his past. She knew it was bull, as she felt guilt over things in her past too, as did everyone else on the planet. Yet she and just about everyone else on the planet moved on. They continued living. They found ways to either suppress the guilt or – for the lucky few – forgive themselves.

Tifa was in the former category. She carried her guilt with her wherever she went. She busied herself – with helping Marle, building Edge, fighting monsters, and working the bar – to suppress the guilt she felt. If she kept her mind focused on other things, she wouldn't have time to think about her mistakes.

Everyone was different, and she just hoped Cloud could find the path that she did. As the days after he left turned into weeks and then months, however, she began to lose hope that Cloud's path would lead him back to her.

It was 4:30 a.m. Tifa squinted her eyes at the bright screen of her phone. She knew that checking the time would almost guarantee she wouldn't go back to sleep but did it anyway. She thought that maybe she could bring up an article on her phone to read until she became tired again. It never worked, but any time she found herself struggling to sleep it was the first thing she thought to do.

Instead of reading, however, she quickly found herself scrolling through her contacts for one particular name.

She knew she shouldn't call. She learned months ago that one shouldn't call the person who broke their heart. It was embarrassing, and it showed weakness. Who would want to take back such a weak person?

She hadn't called Cloud in a little over a month. She knew it wouldn't make a difference. He never really answered his phone even when he was living with her. He only used it to make calls, not to receive them.

Tifa stared at his name on her phone screen until her vision went blurry. She imagined that if she stared at it long enough, he would call.

He didn't.

He had made no attempt to contact her after he left. Tifa had cried nearly every day the first two months, though she had managed to suck it up while she worked. She still cried herself to sleep some nights, but that had become less frequent over the past month as she battled more monsters with the Turks. Yes, the Turks were actually – against all odds and all her predictions or desires – becoming her acquaintances.

She ran her thumb over Cloud's name on her screen, as if doing so would allow her to actually feel him. Suddenly, the screen changed, and she realized she had accidentally called his number. Tifa's heart began to beat faster as she considered hanging up. The damage was done, she thought, and she might as well try to hear his voice when his call went to voicemail.

"The number you have dialed is not in service. Please try again," a voice said after several rings.

Tifa's heart sank.

_What have you done? What happened?_

She began to panic as her mind filled with all the possibilities that could lead to his phone being turned off permanently. Maybe he lost it. Maybe it was destroyed somehow. Maybe… he's hurt somewhere or even…

Tifa shook her head to clear the thoughts. She didn't even want to consider such a possibility. She would rather think that Cloud had dumped her but was alive than believe he was dead.

She continued to stare at her phone until the tears flowed again. After about 20 minutes of crying and screaming her frustrations into the void, she fell asleep.

_A few hours later…_

"Get it together, Lockhart," Tifa said as she supported herself on the bathroom sink and studied her features in the mirror.

It was weird, but she had always thought she looked quite beautiful after she had been crying. She certainly didn't believe she was anything to look at _while_ she was crying, but something about the way her eyes puffed afterward made her feel pretty. It was hard to explain.

She stepped into the shower to refresh for the day, deciding that she needed to know something for sure.

It was still early in the morning, with just a few people heading to work. The monster attacks were consistent, but most people were still able to get to work without being bothered. The Edge Police Department had also grown over the past few months and was regularly patrolling in order to assist people who were attacked.

The sky was still a deep, hazy blue – the color of Cloud's eyes when he was in a pensive mood. The morning fog hung over the town like a cool mist, making the late spring humidity almost bearable. Tifa kept her guard up for any signs of trouble, but she made her way down the main road of Edge easily. Her bar had been built along this road, which stretched from the Old Midgar Sector 5 gate to outside the new city. Seventh Heaven was about halfway between the Meteor statue and the entrance to Old Midgar, about an hour's walk.

Tifa breathed in the stuffy morning air as she approached the Sector 5 gate. Since Edge switched to using oil and coal, the smell of mako no longer hung in the air like hot, wet, garbage. Even without the plate above to trap in the smell down in the slums, it was still noticeable to her until the city no longer had to rely on mako power. She wondered if the people who lived above the plate could smell it, or if it was faint enough for them to ignore. Maybe she only smelled it because it was so pungent in the slums.

The Sector 5 gate had been sealed shut so people wouldn't have to be reminded of what Midgar looked like or the calamity, but a regular-sized door was built into the wall next to it for people to pass through if they wanted. It was a heavy metal door that took some effort to push, meant to deter most people from wandering in to the dangerous, abandoned city. Fiends had multiplied in the old metropolis, fighting alongside junkies and gangs that were run out of Edge.

For Tifa, entering Old Midgar was like stepping back into time. The slums were destroyed, yet just as dangerous and inhabited by some of the old dangers as when she had lived there. Paths had been cleared through the rubble of the plate, and some shanty towns had been built by the criminals that moved into the town. She hadn't been back here since before the gate was closed. Reeve no longer needed to send people into the old city to find supplies and equipment, as Edge could now manufacture what it needed and had enough money to import anything else.

Tifa had heard about the slum lords and degenerates but hadn't seen it with her own eyes. She was now walking past a row of shanty homes that made her uncomfortable. She knew who the junkies and gangbangers were back in the slums – and they learned not to mess with her – but she didn't know if these were new people. Luckily, it seemed they were all asleep, probably passed out from whatever they had done the night before.

She slipped past the shacks and moved on to her destination, an old decrepit building that had somehow avoided damage from Meteor and looked exactly as it had when Tifa first saw it nearly two years earlier. The stonework out front was crumbling, but the large wooden doors still stood solid. Tifa pushed the heavy doors open enough to get through them and see the morning sun casting its rays through what remained of the stained-glass windows. She walked down the center aisle, past the broken pews and the few that were still in somewhat decent condition. Her boots tread softly on the old creaky plank floor as she took notice of how the Sector 5 church hadn't changed one bit.

It was comforting and haunting at the same time. Now Tifa truly felt like she had gone back in time, while at the same time the memories of her dearly departed friend hung heavy in the air. Tifa stopped when she approached the flower garden. Somehow, the white and yellow lilies still thrived even though their caretaker had long since perished. Aerith's spirit must still linger. Tifa crouched down to brush her fingers over the petals of a yellow lily, staring into its center and zoning out.

_Flashback…_

"You made it," she said to Cloud as he returned with Barret from blowing up the Sector 1 reactor. The blond just grunted at her as he strolled toward the front doors of the old Seventh Heaven – with a yellow lily pinned between his shirt and his suspenders. "Where'd you get that? I can't remember the last time I saw a real one."

She didn't think about it at that moment, but the last time she had seen a real flower was in Nibelheim, before the incident five years before Cloud came back into her life. The lily stuck to Cloud's chest reminded her of the Nibelweiss flowers that grew on the Nibel mountains just outside their hometown. They had been her favorite flower, but she hadn't thought about them in years. There was no point. Flowers didn't grow in the slums, and she couldn't afford to buy them from above the plate – if there were even florists up there.

And then Cloud did something unexpected. He grunted again, as if he were annoyed, but he reached for the flower, plucked it from his suspenders, and dramatically presented it to her with just the slightest smile on his face.

Tifa lifted her eyebrows at his gesture. "Huh?" she asked, staring at Cloud and not the flower. Cloud Strife, the hero from her dreams, had just brought her a flower? She blushed and had to look away from him, hoping he didn't see how red her cheeks had turned.

"How sweet! When did _you_ get so thoughtful?" she asked, not meaning to sound so mean.

"A guy can change," Cloud said. "_Has_ been five years."

He sounded almost... flirtatious. _Had_ he changed?

But just like that, the moment was ruined. Tifa hadn't seen Cloud in seven years – at least that's what she thought at the time – and her confusion caused him to stumble and recover by saying he needed to talk to Barret.

_Present day…_

"Cloud, where _are_ you?" Tifa asked the flowers.

He had been gone three months, so she knew the odds of him being here were slim, but she had to know. She looked around. The boxes and chairs that littered the walls of the church were still there. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed and nothing was new. If Cloud had been here, there was no trace of him left.

Tifa thought that maybe he simply came here to talk to Aerith, since it was closer to home. It didn't look like anyone had been here in years, actually. Tifa felt like crying, but she had no more tears left from last night. Three months…

Maybe he was at the Forgotten Capital again. Maybe he didn't want to be found. Tifa thought that if she followed him it would anger him, like she was just some lovesick puppy that couldn't take a hint.

She hugged her arms around her stomach and turned to leave the church, walking slowly back toward the front door as she tried to hold herself together. As she was passing through the doors back outside, she could have sworn she heard a sweet voice say, "Hmm?" but when she turned back, she saw nothing.

Tifa looked up at the sky when she was back outside. The morning sun was hidden behind clouds, turning everything a steely blue. It would rain today. "No more steel sky," Tifa said softly to her friend as she continued to stare upward.

She started walking back to Seventh Heaven as a light drizzle began. She stopped at Marle's orphanage on her way to see if she could help with the children.

"Tifa! How are you? What are you doing here so early?" Marle asked, noticing the light mist that had settled on Tifa's head.

"I was just out for a walk, thought I'd stop by," Tifa said, still hugging her sides. Marle motioned for her to come inside.

"You can help me make breakfast, I remember how good you were with a skillet," Marle said with a wink as Tifa followed her into the kitchen. Tifa chuckled as she scanned the counter to find a bowl of whisked eggs and a skillet on the stove.

"Glad my cooking left such an impression," she said as she turned on the stove to continue with the eggs as Marle started slicing some bacon strips.

"So where were you off to so early in the morning?" Marle asked. Tifa sighed.

"I went to the Sector 5 church," she stopped pouring the eggs into the skillet. "To see if he was there."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Marle said.

"I knew he wouldn't be there. I don't know why it made me sad."

"You still miss him. It's still fresh."

"Yeah…"

"You should be going out with people your age; take your mind off things," Marle suggested.

"All my friends are in other towns."

"So, make some new ones! You're beautiful and famous, you should have no trouble meeting new people."

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right."

Tifa chuckled. "I know, Marle."

"You have to have gotten close to _someone_ in town by now other than me, right?"

Tifa thought for a moment and shuddered. Then she groaned.

"Actually, the people I see the most are the Turks," she admitted, the words feeling like acid in her mouth.

"Those murderers? What do they want?"

"They've been helping fight the monsters in town. They've also helped with the construction."

Marle narrowed her eyes as Tifa scrambled the eggs.

"They tried to kill us all," Marle said.

"I know. I think… they regret it though," Tifa replied, surprised at herself for almost defending them.

"They said that?"

"Yeah. A couple of times, actually."

"Do you believe them?"

"Can you ever trust a Turk?" Both women laughed.

Marle sighed as she began placing bacon strips on a separate skillet on the stove.

"Well, they've got you laughing again. That's positive, at least."

"Marle."

"Tifa, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my life," Marle began. Tifa knew she was in for a bit of a lecture. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't believe people can change. I've seen it. Now, that doesn't mean you should embrace them or even forget what they did, but if you have people in your life right now that make you smile, don't reject them."

Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing. But then, Marle always had a soft spot for lost souls.

"I can't get past what they did," the younger woman said, mixing some cheese into the eggs.

"I know, I was there, too," Marle replied. "But honey, that was two years ago. We've all moved on."

"Biggs and Jessie didn't," Tifa snapped, harsher than she intended. "They couldn't."

"And neither could those people who died when the reactors blew up," Marle said, immediately placing a hand on Tifa's shoulder to stop her from reacting. "I don't say that to be mean, I just want you to have perspective. We've all done things we regret; things we never wanted to do in the first place. But don't people at least deserve a second chance?"

"Are you seriously telling me to consider being their friend?"

Marle laughed. "No, of course not. But _you_ brought them up. The idea must be on your mind."

Tifa scoffed. Marle had to be wrong. Tifa wasn't thinking about the Turks at all unless they were physically near her – and she didn't like when they were near, even if they had been helping the people of Edge a lot.

"I don't know…" she sighed.

"You don't have to marry one of them, but if they can make you smile once in a while, don't fight it," Marle responded. "You don't have to prove to anyone that you loved him. We know. That doesn't mean you have to wallow in misery until he comes back."

Tifa considered Marle's words as they served breakfast to the children. The kids from the Leaf House made up most of the children at the orphanage, but there were a few kids Marlene's age and a few that were a little older than the rest. Tifa had seen the children play together and get into arguments, but during meals, they were all cooperative and quiet.

"Hey Tifa, has Cloud come back yet?" Oates asked.

"Oates!" Marle scolded.

"Sorry," Oates wilted. "It's just that, some older kids were bullying us the other day, and we were hoping he could teach us some self-defense moves."

"He's not back yet," Tifa informed the boy. "But I could teach you, if you like."

Some of the children perked up at her offer.

"I usually train in the morning alone, but I can come here and teach you during that time instead," Tifa added, to the children's delight.

The martial artist thought Marle was right about one thing: She needed to find things to take her mind off Cloud. Teaching the children, along with helping at the orphanage and building Edge, would all help.

On her way back to Seventh Heaven – the rain had let up while she was at the orphanage – Tifa was snapped out of her thoughts by skittering down the street in front of her. It wasn't the sounds of any fiend she was used to seeing in Edge, so she ran toward the commotion to see what was going on. A swarm of head hunters had invaded the city. Tifa squinted at them to be sure of what she was seeing; these were creatures native to Mideel, so why were they in Edge?

She didn't think too long before she ran toward one and drove her fist through its head. Another came up alongside her and she kicked out, smashing its carapace in its muddle. Two more jabbed at her with their front talons. She leapt into the air and landed with her heel on one's front leg, snapping it in half. The creature cried out in pain and Tifa hurled it toward its partner. The two tumbled backwards several feet, landing in front of two Edge police officers.

Tifa nodded to the officers as they took care of the beasts, leaving the bartender to return to her home. She entered and walked upstairs to brush out her hair, which had become frizzy from the earlier rain.

Today had taken a strange turn. Not only were the monster attacks increasing, but now creatures from other continents were appearing in the town? Tifa wondered if the two occurrences were related. They had to be, but she didn't understand it.

And what about Marle's suggestion? Tifa didn't think she was purposefully refusing to enjoy herself, it's just that nothing seemed to make her happy. It was just a fluke that Reno had made her smile and then laugh, right?

_Later…_

Like clockwork, the two Turks were in her bar shortly after opening. Tifa realized she was no longer tensing when they entered her bar. They were just regular customers at this point, not potential enemies. She took a deep breath and served their drinks, prepared to leave the two as soon as she set down their glasses as she usually did.

But for once, Rude had figured out something he could say to her. It wasn't anything profound, and he worried it wasn't interesting enough for her, but he had to try.

"Hey Tifa," he began, his voice stiff as always. "Can you believe this guy's birthday is next week?"

He ruffled Reno's hair as if he were a child. Reno swatted Rude's hand away and looked at his partner indignantly. "Hey, c'mon, yo."

Tifa's face softened a bit. She had never thought of the Turks as humans, let alone humans who celebrated their birthdays. She almost chuckled at the thought of these two tough guys wearing party hats and eating cake.

"Oh yeah? How old will you be?" she asked the redhead while wiping the inside of a glass.

Reno glared at his partner and shook his head before hanging it and looking at his hands around the glass of scotch in front of him. "30," he mumbled.

Tifa's eyes widened slightly.

"I had no idea you were so…"

"Young? I know. Second in command of the Turks before 30, pretty impressive, right?" Reno asked proudly.

"…old," Tifa finished her sentence and bit her lower lip in cautious regret. She really thought Reno was closer to her age with how immature he acted.

The redhead blinked and looked dejected, clearly never having been called "old" before. And 30 wasn't old, he thought, even if he didn't want to be crossing that age line. Must be the fact that Tifa was only 22, _everyone_ seemed old to a 22-year-old.

"Old?" he asked, sulking. Rude actually let out a short laugh at his partner's misery.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I thought you were younger when we were fighting," Tifa offered, surprised that she actually felt bad about her comment.

"Well, I was younger back _then_," he replied, cocking his head and sticking out his tongue. Tifa snickered before moving on to other customers.

And it went on like that. Over the next several weeks, Tifa found herself actually letting herself be included in Reno and Rude's conversations. She still hated them, she told herself, but she took Marle's words to heart about letting herself get distracted. Tifa occasionally had to remind herself who was making her laugh – the people who dropped the plate on Sector 7. But the Turks who came into her bar didn't seem to be the same sadistic corporate shills she had known back before Meteorfall.

She no longer hated the sight of them and was more friendly toward them when they were in the bar. They told her things about their jobs and Shinra, occasionally letting small details of their lives slip out. Reno even flirted with her sometimes, earning a grumble from Rude. Tifa kept her guard up, never letting them know _too_ much about her and putting Reno in his place if he got out of hand. She didn't tell them about Nibelheim or her life in the slums, or anything about where her friends were or what they were doing, but she would talk about her day sometimes, if they weren't drawing her into one of their nightly debates.

They didn't come in for Reno's birthday like she thought they would. He and Rude were there the day before and after, but apparently the Turks had a particular way to celebrate birthdays that they refused to explain to Tifa. She imagined explosives were involved.

"Hey Lockhart," Reno said to her one night, "settle a bet for us."

The bartender slung a dish rag over her shoulder and leaned over the counter to let them know she was listening, her eyes still roaming the bar in case other patrons needed her.

"If there was a Colosseum or Battle Arena just for monsters, what do you think would win?" Reno asked before quickly raising his index finger toward her. "But it _has_ to be something currently roaming the world, no one-time fiends like Jenova."

Rude nodded along as his partner spoke.

"Rude here says a master tonberry would rule, but my money's on a good ol' Midgar zolom."

"Hmm," Tifa said, considering the question.

She tried to think back to her travels and what creatures gave her the most trouble. The Midgar zoloms living in the swamp outside the Mythril Mine certainly were contenders, but those master tonberries were nasty in the Northern Crater. She also didn't want to just agree with one of them, though it would be funny to see how they reacted if she did.

"What about a malboro?" she countered.

The Turks looked at each other in surprise. "We didn't even think of that," Rude said.

"Yeah, I think my gil would be on a malboro," Tifa added. "Monsters don't tend to have too many immunities to status effects."

"Crafty, Lockhart," Reno said. Tifa lifted a finger to her temple as Reno tended to do.

The bartender returned to her work, again reminding herself that she shouldn't be fraternizing with anyone associated with Shinra.

After weeks of similar exchanges, Tifa decided she had to call Yuffie in the hopes the Wutai ninja would scold her back to reality.

"The _Turks_?" Yuffie screeched into the phone, causing Tifa to hold the receiver far away and brace herself. "The hell, Teef!"

Tifa giggled. "That's what I needed to hear, thanks Yuffie." She was sincere.

"Wait, wait, Tifa! Have they really changed?"

"Probably not, why?"

"I mean, what if they did, right?" Yuffie laying on her bed while talking to her friend.

"Goodbye Yuffie, I have to get ready for work," Tifa realized the conversation was futile.

_Later…_

The bar was set to open in an hour, so Tifa was busy with her daily ritual of preparing for customers. She removed the chairs from their resting places upside down on the tables and placed them properly on the floor. She cleaned each of the tables and polished the bar and swept the floors. She was removing the last batch of dishes from the dishwasher when she heard a loud crash outside followed by screams and several additional loud sounds.

She instantly recognized the commotion as yet another monster attack and rushed out of the bar to discover a large pack of Kalm fangs had invaded the city. Tifa put on her Premium Heart weapon and ran toward one of the fangs, which had a child pinned to the ground. Just before she reached the fang, she swung her leg around from the side to kick it in its ribcage, sending it yelping as it tumbled away from the child.

Two more fangs lunged toward Tifa. She thrust out her fist, planning on punching one into the other, but only managed to make contact with one as another fist shot out to attack the other. As both creatures fell to the ground, Tifa found that Rude was standing next to her in battle stance. The two fighters nodded to each other and separated to take on more fangs, which appeared to be growing in numbers.

Tifa could hear the sound of animals being electrocuted and smelled burnt flesh and fur. She turned around to see Reno dispatching a creature that was sneaking up behind her. He gave her a grin to indicate that he had just saved her ass again, but Tifa just shook her head and ran toward the next beast. She could take care of herself in a fight, even if she did find the Turks helpful.

Whenever she or the Turks dispatched one Kalm fang, two more seemed to spring up. By the time they had killed a couple dozen of the creatures, Tifa was starting to tire. She looked around to see that Rude was also starting to slow down. She then tried to find Reno but couldn't. Near the end of the block, however, a large group of fangs appeared to be attacking something on the ground. Every few seconds, Tifa would see sparks appearing and one of the fangs would yelp in pain and take a step back, but others would take its place. She and Rude looked at each other and fought their way toward the group.

Reno was lying on the ground frantically stabbing at the fangs with his EMR, which seemed to be running out of power. By the time Tifa and Rude got to him, they could see he was covered in blood, but they weren't sure it was all his. He was trying to hold the fangs off while also reaching for his backup pistol and fending off others with his EMR. Tifa and Rude worked to remove as many of the fangs as they could to help Reno get up. When he was up, the three stood back-to-back as they were surrounded by the beasts.

"Got any bright ideas?" Reno asked. Neither Tifa nor Rude responded. "Good plan."

Reno began firing into the pack and using his now depleted EMR as a baton. Tifa and Rude continued to fight as best they could.

Finally, Edge police officers arrived and were able to help the three kill the remaining monsters. When the last of the fangs fell, Rude and Reno staggered into Seventh Heaven behind Tifa.

"Yuffie took most of our materia, but I should still have a Restore lying around," Tifa said as Reno and Rude collapsed onto their usual bar stools.

She disappeared upstairs and the two men could hear her footsteps above them. She emerged back downstairs a moment later holding a glowing green orb. She cast it on each of them and felt her energy return. Despite its name, "cure" didn't actually cure everything. It could heal many cuts and bruises and could lessen the seriousness of major wounds, but it wasn't a replacement for medical care.

Even after the spell she noticed blood dripping from a deep gash on Reno's forehead. In the past, she would have left him to his injury, but since she had become – dare she say – friendly with them over the past couple months, she was despising them less. Somehow, against all odds, they had broken through her defenses and become something close to friends of hers. Tifa's nurturing instincts kicked in and she grabbed a towel and a first-aid kit from behind the bar.

Reno still appeared too out of it to even realize he was bleeding. Tifa walked over to him and pulled his shoulder back so he would turn to face her on the barstool.

"Whoa, hey Lockhart, what are you doing?" he asked, as if he were finally about to get the retribution he knew he deserved.

"You're wounded," she said as she began cleaning the gash.

She pressed the towel to his forehead to stop the bleeding and then wiped the remaining blood from his skin. Reno considered objecting – Turks can take care of themselves, after all – but he found that his face was quite close to Tifa's breasts as she bent over him to care for the injury. He couldn't see down her tank top, unfortunately, but it was a rare view from above he was not going to pass up.

"Nice view," he said with a grin as she started to dab bactine on the wound.

Tifa noticed what he was looking at and scoffed at him.

"Look up at the ceiling, perv," Tifa said before making sure he felt the bactine.

Reno winced but did as he was told. He lifted his head up but made one last attempt to look down her shirt. As he did so, he noticed blood was dripping onto her boot and the floor. He couldn't see a wound on her leg from where he was sitting.

"Lockhart, you're bleeding," he said.

Tifa finished placing a bandage on Reno's head wound and took a step back to look down at her legs. She could see the blood on her ankle and the floor but didn't see a wound on the front of her legs. She rotated her right ankle to point her toes outward. She could see the end of a deep gash on the upper part of her inner thigh, but the rest was on the back of her leg.

"Ugh, great," she said. "That's going to need stitches. I'll go get my kit."

"You're going to do that yourself?" Rude asked, having remained his usual silent self while Reno was tended to, quietly wishing _he_ had been the one to get injured.

"Of course, I've had to stitch up a lot of my friends," Tifa responded.

"Yeah but you can't reach that," Reno said.

"Sure I can, I'm pretty flexible."

"Okay, I'm going to save _that_ comment for a later day," Reno smirked. "Seriously though, let me stitch you up."

Tifa scoffed again.

"No way," she sneered. "I'll go to the emergency room." It was one thing to engage the Turks in conversation or even consider them acquaintances, it was quite another to let one of them _touch_ her, even if it was in a medical capacity.

"You really should let Reno do it, he's actually good with a needle," Rude interjected, his voice and tone still cold.

Tifa shook her head.

"Look, you can go to the emergency room, wait for several hours, continue to bleed everywhere, and then pay a huge bill, or you can let me help you, yo," Reno pleaded.

Tifa silently weighed her options. On the one hand, she didn't have time to wait around to be seen in the emergency room and she didn't want to fork over a ton of gil just for some stitches, but she had to weigh that against the cost of allowing Reno anywhere near her nether regions. She apparently took too long to decide, prompting Reno to complain.

"Wait, are you seriously debating this?" he asked.

She had been stitched up by non-doctors before when she was traveling with AVALANCHE. Either Jessie or Aerith, or sometimes Yuffie, would usually tend to her deeper wounds, and she would do the same for them. One time Cloud offered to help her, but Aerith interjected, much to Tifa's dismay. Still, Aerith was much better at that stuff than Cloud, so it was better that she handled the wound.

"Lockhart!" Tifa snapped back to reality at Reno's call. "Just lay down on the floor, I'll be done in two minutes!"

"I bet you say that to all the women," Tifa quipped.

Reno's jaw dropped open. His pride had been hurt, but he had to admit he never expected Tifa to make a joke like that, and certainly not to him, even if she had started to begrudgingly tolerate them and even joke with them at times. To his side, Rude let out a barely audible snort, but when Reno glared at him, he found his bald partner standing just as stiffly as always.

"Both of you, shut up," Reno hissed.

After a short snicker, Tifa took a long, deep breath before finally answering.

"Fine, but if any part of you touches any part of me other than this wound, I will kill you," she threatened.

"Got it, no fun," Reno said with his hands raised in the air defensively.

Tifa glared at him before walking behind the bar to get her suture kit and a dish towel to use to cover herself. She returned to where Reno was standing – still with that stupid grin on his face – and pushed the kit against his chest. She took one more deep breath, making sure to lock eyes with the red-haired Turk and give him a menacing expression, before she slowly moved to lay down on her stomach.

"Oooh, black," Reno said, eyeing Tifa's undergarments while getting down on his knees. "Nice."

Tifa whipped around to shoot daggers at her former enemy. Reno's grin widened as he tried to look innocent.

"One more comment like that and I'll – "

"I know, I know – you'll kill me," Reno said, again putting his hands up defensively.

"No, I was going to say I would smash them," Tifa replied, propping herself up on her side so that she could grind one fist into her other palm as she spoke. The movement caused her wound to stretch and strain. She welped.

"Okay, Lockhart, it's all out of my system. Dr. Reno is here to help."

Tifa rolled her eyes and laid back down, making sure to place the towel over her backside and between her legs to stay covered.

She winced the second she felt Reno's hand on her as he tapped her thigh to indicate she needed to move her leg so he could get better access to the wound. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend that it was not Reno whose hand was on her thigh, just inches from the hem of her skirt. She hated the fact that he was the first man to touch her there in nearly a year. Even worse, she hated the fact that her body seemed to react to it, as she felt butterflies in her stomach as he tended to her injury.

She could feel the pinch and pressure as he drove a suture into her skin and slowly worked to close the wound.

After a minute or two – though it seemed like much longer due to her antipathy toward him – she no longer felt movement on her leg.

"That's it, all done," Reno said triumphantly.

Tifa glanced over at Rude for confirmation. He gave a slight nod. She slowly got up and reached behind to feel the stitches, just to make sure they were done and she was no longer bleeding. Satisfied, she picked up the suture kit and the towel before adjusting the hem of her skirt.

"Thank you," she said without emotion.

"Hey, no problem," Reno said, cheerfully. "So, I think you owe me another free drink."

"This is the _last_ one," Tifa insisted as she took her first step toward the bar. She limped a few steps, getting used to the stitches she could now feel when she moved.

The two Turks sat at their usual barstools and waited patiently for their drinks. Rude regarded Reno a bit skeptically after Tifa's comment. Reno had never mentioned getting a free drink at Seventh Heaven before. Rude found it odd; that seemed like something Reno would want to brag about.

Tifa gave them each a free scotch, making sure to shortchange them on alcohol just as she had done for Reno the last time he asked for a freebie.

"Some fight today, huh?" Reno asked when Tifa was near their corner of the bar later in the evening once the business was busier. "Think you'll have to start paying us for all our personal bodyguard work, yo."

"Hmm, I seem to recall being the one to save _your_ ass today, _yo_," Tifa said, mocking Reno's tone. For the second time that day, Rude snorted in delight.

"Just a fluke, babe," Reno retorted. Tifa rolled her eyes and returned to her other customers.

Both men watched her work, though Rude wasn't aware that Reno was also watching the barmaid and not scanning for other women. Cloud had been gone four months, and the Turks were seeing Tifa start to lighten up. Whereas before she always looked just two seconds away from crying, now she was able to hold the neutral smile she had before the blond jackass left.

They saw her laughing at customer's jokes, sometimes genuinely, and she seemed to enjoy participating in the Turks' banter. She seemed particularly good at picking on Reno. Rude loved watching his partner get put in his place, and Reno found himself enjoying that as well.

Tifa was still struggling with her opinion of the Turks, but couldn't say she truly hated them anymore. She hated what they had done back in Sector 7, for sure, but she could no longer hate them after months of getting to know them. She didn't know when it had actually happened, but at some point they stopped being her enemies. They were just two people trying to protect and contribute to the town, like her.

She just hoped her AVALANCHE friends could understand somehow.


	6. Obvious

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies. If you don't like sex scenes, please skip them.**

**Updated 6/19/2020: Edits throughout. Lots more angst from Tifa. More information from Elena. New scene with Reno near the end.**

Chapter 6:

Tifa lay on the floor of her bar, her chest to the wood planks and her hands under her chin for support; her legs stretched out behind her. The bar was empty, except for her, Rude, and Reno.

Reno kneeled behind her and between her legs, his gaze transfixed on the wound on her upper thigh. It was not a place she had ever wanted him to be. He had already proven himself to be of ill-intent when he had commented on the color of her panties. She could only imagine what he was actually thinking about while in such close proximity to her nether region. She could feel his eyes boring into her even though she couldn't see him, and she knew his thoughts had to be impure. She could gag.

She flinched as Reno stitched her up, his hands pressing and pinching the sensitive skin of her thigh. She suddenly felt heat building in her abdomen based on where his hands were, and it frightened her. She bit her lower lip as she cursed herself for getting turned on by what was happening, and by Reno, of all people. This was the man who caused her so much grief, so much anguish, and had initiated most of her guilt. The only man to cause her more distress was Sephiroth who had killed her best friend, her father, and nearly killed her. But Sephiroth's actions were his own; Reno's actions were in response to something _she_ had done.

Reno tried to murder one-seventh of the population of the largest city on earth, and succeeded in killing two of her best friends. What would _they_ think if they could see her now, letting Reno touch her and get so close he could kill her? She shut her eyes tight, knowing that they could see her from heaven. She just hoped they understood.

As she continued to lie there, she noticed Reno's hand had started to travel further up her leg and away from the wound. His fingers tapped softly along her skin, first on the back of her thigh and then moving over to her inner thigh. His fingertips were just barely grazing her skin, but it was causing heat to pool in her abdomen. The butterflies seemed hungry.

She knew she needed to stop him, to spin around and kick him in the face for his transgression, but she had to admit his delicate touch was enticing.

"Reno…" she cooed in a tone that surprised even herself.

She heard herself moan slightly as his hand reached the hem of her miniskirt and lingered for a moment. His thumb traced the line of her skirt briefly before gently pressing against her skin to gain entry underneath.

_No, this is wrong. _But damn did it feel good, and it had been too long since she had felt a man's touch.

She said nothing as his fingers continued their way up her leg, under her skirt, causing a shiver to run up her spine. Her heart began to beat faster as she felt his body hovering over her back, his face inches from her ear.

"Tell me how you want it," Reno whispered. It made goosebumps appear on Tifa's skin.

Before she could respond, she felt something under her skirt, poking at her panties – the tip of his cock. She was soon damp with anticipation and yearning, shocked at her willingness and newfound exhibitionism.

She looked at the door, knowing that at any moment Cloud could come home and they could resume their once happy family life. _Oh God_. She hadn't actually broken up with Cloud, had she? He had been gone four months without a single word, could she really consider him to still be her boyfriend?

She had only ever had eyes for him, and now she was cheating on him with one of his most hated adversaries. The worst part was that the idea of cheating turned her on _more _at this particular moment. What she was doing was wrong, and Tifa had always tried to do what was right.

"Reno, we shouldn't," she whispered in a tone that had no assertiveness to it.

He didn't acknowledge that she had said anything. Instead, he moved his hands to her hips and pulled them sharply into the air as he sat up on his knees behind her. She looked around to find Rude watching, his arms folded across his chest and no look of concern on his face. Her eyes pleaded with him for help, but he didn't move. _Why isn't he helping me? Doesn't he have a crush on me? Why would he let Reno do this?_

A moment later, Reno was inside her. She couldn't remember how he got her panties off or when he removed his own pants and boxers. He was clearly taking her and wouldn't listen to her protests. She had never been so "bad" in her life, and she found it exhilarating.

With each thrust of his hips, Tifa felt her insides getting warmer. Cloud never treated her like this – like she was an object or a piece of meat. He had always treated her with love and respect, and it turned her on just as much.

But this, this _physical_ pleasure was too much for her to take. She knew she was getting close to releasing her own pleasure and found herself repeating the red-headed Turks name over and over again.

Before she could release, Tifa woke up to feel herself pulsing wildly. Her heart was racing, and she was drenched in sweat.

_No. God, no,_ she said to herself as she realized what she had just dreamed - and what her mind had thought of in the dream. Never in a million years would she ever consider cheating on Cloud; and it would _never_ turn her on. It was just a stupid dream, but her dream self was right to question whether she could still consider Cloud her boyfriend when she hadn't heard from him in four months.

Tifa was no stranger to sex dreams, but she had _never_ had one about someone she had once found so odious. Usually such dreams were reserved for Cloud, or someone from her distant past. Once she had a particularly embarrassing one about a certain towheaded pilot from Rocket Town. It happened shortly after they had met the foul-mouthed spear wielder, and boy was _that_ day awkward.

She brought her hands up to her head as her body finally calmed down. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything, and one couldn't control what they dreamed about. But now she couldn't get it out of her head. Reno had somehow burrowed into her brain, his sardonic grin mocking her without even knowing it. His features were taunting her. His spikey, flaming red hair; those intense, smoldering eyes that must have once been some sort of creepy hazel color (creepy in the sense that the color would clash with his pale skin and red hair) but now had a mako glow that made them appear aquamarine. Those tattoos under his eyes that always seemed to be laughing, even if he wasn't. His lips, always curled upward. His sense of humor and the way he could make her laugh even if he didn't say anything particularly funny.

_No. No, no, no, no, no!_ She would not let a dream get the best of her. She was _not_ attracted to Reno, just like she was never attracted to Cid. So why did this feel different? Okay, so, she could admit he was objectively good looking without finding him attractive herself, right? Like that time Yuffie admitted she thought Sephiroth was hot even though he was insane and evil. Tifa and Aerith chastised her for the comment, but they could understand what she was saying. The three women had several conversations of a similar nature - not about Sephiroth, but other people they met along the way - as they traveled.

Tifa was only even _thinking_ this about Reno because she was so heartbroken over Cloud, she told herself, and was looking for a distraction and Reno, more than Rude, cheered her up with his comments and flirtations, even if she knew it was just an act he put on.

She hated that she would spend the rest of the day thinking about Reno in this new light. He may not be the same threat he once was, but he was still a Turk and still one of the men who murdered her friends in Sector 7. He may not have been the one who pushed the final button, but he started the process. His regret and everything he has done to atone since didn't matter. Tifa was just starting to accept the idea that she saw the Turks as _acquaintances_, she would never be ready to accept one as a crush.

She spent her atypically long shower daydreaming; reliving the dream from the night before. She just couldn't get it out of her head. Cloud hadn't touched her for six months before he finally left, and even though the dream was about someone she claimed to still despise, the intimate feelings it provided were welcome. She just tried to imagine Cloud in place of Reno.

"Tifa?" Marle asked while Tifa was helping at the orphanage.

She hadn't even realized she zoned out. She was standing in the backyard of the building, tilting a watering can forward onto some vegetable sprouts that were now overwatered. She immediately pulled the watering can away and blushed.

"I'm sorry."

"You okay?" Marle asked. "You've been pretty distant today."

Tifa turned her head to hide her face as she turned a deeper shade of red.

"It's nothing, Marle," she lied. "Just out of it today, I guess."

Marle regarded her suspiciously and lingered to watch a moment more. Tifa tried harder to pay attention to what she was doing, but her thoughts kept wafting back to that dream. She wished she could kick her brain for putting these thoughts in her head.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," Marle knew enough about Tifa's moods to know when she needed to talk and when she needed to be left alone. This was one of those latter times. If Tifa wanted to talk about something, she would.

When it was time for Tifa to continue on with her errands, Marle placed a hand on either of the younger woman's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"If you need anything, you'll call, right?" she asked.

Tifa nodded with a slight smile. Her stupid dream was causing Marle to pity her. Stupid Reno.

Tifa headed to the theater, trying to push the dream from her head, but it kept cropping back up. Suddenly she found herself not just thinking about the dream, but some of her other interactions with Reno as well. She knew how he treated other women and told herself he wasn't treating her any differently; he was just a flirtatious person. _Rude_ actually liked her, but Reno, if anything, would only want her for her body. It was these thoughts that finally allowed her to concentrate on some of the plywood she was helping to cut at the theater. Remembering what she hated about Reno allowed her to push the dream out of her mind and focus on construction.

She still prayed he wouldn't come to the bar that night.

_Later…_

Elena knew.

She wasn't the most clandestine of the Turks, but her ability to quickly and accurately assess subtle nuances in behavior to gain insight into her targets was unmatched. It's why she had been promoted as a Turk despite her big mouth and inability to control her emotions.

Even Tseng was impressed with her skills, having figured out she was more astute than either he or Rude during a particularly humbling game of poker.

Elena had started at Shinra years before Sephiroth's return and Meteor with the dream of one day getting promoted to the Turks. Her sister, Emma, was already a Turk, and Elena had been locked in an intense rivalry with her since they were kids. Emma, however, was older, so she always won. _She_ had a boyfriend first, _she_ got a job first, _she_ became a Turk first. Emma became a Turk before Elena even graduated from university, even though she went to classes year-round to try and graduate sooner. Soon after graduation, Elena was hired by Shinra full-time and was on track to someday become a Turk, she hoped.

During her first week as an employee, she developed a little crush on Reno after seeing him stroll through the building with a confidence that told her and every other woman in the company that he had been there and knew exactly what he was doing. She quickly realized that most female employees – and even some of the men – had developed an attraction for the fiery redhead. When he'd walk by, with his shirt unbuttoned and that cocky grin displayed with a wink at any woman he passed, the women swooned. Elena, being so young, couldn't help but get caught up in his masculine aura.

Within months, however, Elena was bombarded with rumors and gossip about Reno's womanizing that made her rethink her crush and even see him as potentially diseased. Plus, she learned that Emma had slept with him. Emma beat her once again, Elena stewed, until she found out Reno never called her back. It made her like Reno slightly more at the time, since he hurt her rival, but her crush was as good as dead.

She decided to focus on his work attitude, since she did want to be his coworker someday. She figured it would be a bad idea to despise a coworker, though having a crush on a superior didn't seem like a good idea either. Still, after several years with the company, Elena had developed feelings for someone else – Tseng.

Tseng was handsome, stoic, mysterious. He showed Elena that Turks didn't have to be brutal killers all the time. She felt like she had developed some deep connection with him when he told her that he had allowed Aerith to avoid capture for the past decade despite his orders.

She had been talking to him about her desire to be a Turk, which he only knew about because she blurted it out at him one day when he asked why she had been staring at him. She felt it was better to say that than to tell him she was in love with him.

Elena first suspected Reno had a secret during their first mission together in Gongaga after he Rude had fought AVALANCHE atop the Sector 7 pillar. She had overheard their little conversation about crushes and could swear she detected a hint of anger, hurt, and confusion in his response to Rude saying he liked Tifa. At the time, Elena placed the suspicion in the back of her mind and went about her business, silently cursing the men for discussing her crush on Tseng and _his_ affection for the Cetra girl. Later that evening, her suspicions about Reno would be heightened.

She had been out with Reno a few times before that mission. Tseng had introduced them over drinks to get her familiar with her new coworkers after she had become a Turk. Elena watched as Reno methodically entranced a different woman each night before eventually leaving with her while the rest of the Turks finished drinking. Each night, Reno took his time to romance the women, telling them things Elena wished Tseng would say to her. She saw Reno act as if he had just met the love of his life; the first woman he had ever been attracted to. She knew it was all lies, but she marveled at his ability to seem so sincere about it all.

After Reno and Rude fought AVALANCHE outside Gongaga, however, Reno seemed different. Elena knew he had fought Cloud, Tifa, and Nanaki, while the other members of AVALANCHE traveled separately.

The Turks met for drinks later that night. When Reno entered the bar, he didn't even stop to acknowledge her or Tseng. Instead, he eyed the first attractive woman he could find, walked right up to her and whispered something in her ear, and then ushered her to the back of the bar toward the rest rooms. Elena saw him pinch the woman's ass before they disappeared into a room in the back. She wasn't sure exactly how long he was gone – Tseng was drinking with them, after all – but she thought it must have been hours.

Elena suspected Reno's drastic change of behavior had something to do with the fight earlier but didn't want to make any assumptions about the exact reason. She hadn't seen him after his fight atop the pillar, so she had nothing to compare his actions to – that could just be how he acted after any major fight. Being new, she didn't want to ask Rude if Reno seemed off after their fight on the pillar. If her suspicions were wrong, she didn't want to spread rumors. At that time, Emma and about a dozen other former Turks were in hiding, leaving Elena as the only woman. She didn't want to fall into any gender stereotypes about being the office gossip.

During their vacation in Wutai, Elena had been shocked when Reno refused to fight Cloud and his friends. Reno had lifted his head initially when he saw Cloud Strife but lowered it after seeing Vincent and Aerith with him.

_Flashback…_

"Y—you!? How did you get here…?" Elena asked when the three members of AVALANCHE walked toward their table at the Turtle's Paradise pub. She jumped to her feet and prepared to fight right there in the bar. "Never mind that. I guess it's fate that brought us together. Get ready to die!"

Cloud and his friends drew their weapons. Elena perhaps had a bit much to drink and nearly laughed when Aerith drew her "weapon" – an umbrella. The look on the woman's face, still so determined to fight, tickled Elena. But the boys didn't seem to notice or care.

"… Elena, you talk too much," Reno scolded her, his gaze fixated on his drink. He was drunk, close to that fork in the road where he could either get into some serious debauchery or pass out. He veered toward debauchery when he saw Cloud stroll in, but now he was closing in on passing out. Reno was surprised to see the legendary Vincent Valentine with Cloud – but just for a moment. Reno had heard about Vincent and everything Hojo had done to him, everyone in the Turks knew about that, but no one had seen him in 30 years. It couldn't be a coincidence that Sephiroth had returned _and_ so had Valentine.

Vincent was taller than Cloud, but Reno knew those AVALANCHE rats traveled in separate groups, but Cloud always had an entourage of two. His heart fluttered a moment – which at first, he thought might be a heart attack since he had never experienced such a feeling before – until he saw the Ancient bobbing along behind the two men. Reno sneered and returned to his drink, assuming Rude and Elena would follow his lead.

"W—what?" Elena asked, shocked that _Reno_ wasn't itching to kill these AVALANCHE bastards.

"What are we doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?" the redhead asked as Cloud and his friends watched, their weapons still drawn.

"We're taking our vacation and resting up from our work," Elena said, slumping her shoulders.

She hadn't been a Turk for very long and hadn't even been in a fight with AVALANCHE yet. She was itching to get at them – especially Aerith.

"Now our vacation is ruined," Reno replied.

"B—but—" Elena stammered.

"… even the booze tastes bad now," Rude added.

As always, the two men had ganged up on her. She sighed and sat back down, mumbling "…sorry…"

Cloud and the others relaxed and put away their weapons as Reno and Rude tried to ignore them. Reno in particular was trying to get his mind off certain things; mainly the absence of Tifa. He was too drunk to leave the bar and go looking for her, even though he thought he might have a chance since Cloud was paling around with the Ancient. His legs weren't working anymore, however, so he decided to challenge Rude to a drinking contest instead.

"Drink, Rude!" he cheered. "How long have we been a team…?" Reno was slurring his words as he downed another shot. About five shot glasses were already empty near him. "There have been hard times being a Turk, but all in all, I'm glad I did it," Reno continued, his inhibitions lowered enough to tell AVALANCHE what he really thought. "I even got to meet a bunch of wing nuts like you."

"To the Turks… To Reno… cheers!" Rude said, his face red from alcohol.

They both had too much to drink that day. Elena was used to seeing them drunk, but not like that. Maybe they both were trying to forget something.

Elena had thought that Reno was originally considering the prospect of fighting Cloud yet again but quickly decided against it. Based on the other nuggets of information she had stored in her brain, she suspected things might have been different if a certain someone had been traveling with Cloud at that particular moment.

_Present day…_

It wasn't until after Rude and Reno fought Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid in the Gelnika that Elena was absolutely positive she had figured out the red-haired Turk. When she saw him after that – at a bar, of course – he picked up a woman with his charm, taking the entire night before asking her to leave with him.

The only difference between their fight in Gongaga, their vacation in Wutai, and the fight in the Gelnika was the absence of one woman: Tifa Lockhart.

After it all came together, Elena didn't even think she had uncovered some deep secret, as Reno hadn't been particularly subtle after the battle in Gongaga. Elena couldn't imagine that Rude and Tseng hadn't noticed, yet it seemed they hadn't.

Rude and Tseng were the ones that most embodied what it meant to be a Turk: quiet, ruthless, emotionless. Yet each of them let their love for a woman distract them from their jobs. Rude never hit Tifa in Gongaga, and Reno had teased him about it mercilessly afterward. It was another of the little things Elena had noticed. Reno seemed a little _too_ interested in teasing Rude about Tifa. Rude had mumbled something about Reno constantly putting her in a pyramid, but that didn't deter the redhead's teasing.

Tseng's love for Aerith – unfortunate as Elena found it – prevented him from doing anything to make her willingly return to Shinra years before she had teamed up with AVALANCHE. Had Tseng done his job earlier, so many things might have been different.

Elena now found herself sitting at a table in Seventh Heaven. Reno and Rude were here practically every night – and she knew why. They tried to drag her out each time, but she refused. She didn't enjoy sitting around watching men gawk at another woman; it made her feel undesirable. She especially hated that her coworkers were there to gawk at this _particular_ woman, whom they had all been ordered to kill several years ago. This woman, who stood against everything they worked so hard for, and who would gladly watch them all burn to death if she could, probably.

Her coworkers regaled her with stories from Seventh Heaven; about how Tifa didn't seem to hold ill-will against them anymore and how she even gave them free drinks once in a blue moon. Elena couldn't believe what she was hearing when they'd talk about the barmaid like she was their friend. Reno would prod Rude to ask her out now that she didn't hate them anymore and Rude would refuse. Elena wanted to tell them to shut up and forget about the busty brunette.

Elena hated Tifa. Hated how her coworkers fawned over her. Sure, Reno hid it well by picking up other women in the bar, but Elena knew. She hated how she was ignored if Tifa was in the room. She hated Tifa's thick, long, perfect hair. Her perfect legs. Her perfect breasts. Her perfect face. Elena sneered at the thought of the brunette bartender.

Elena didn't want to come to the bar that night, but Tseng had surprisingly accepted Rude and Reno's offer of free drinks. It was so rare when the boss agreed to join them – and this was the first time he ever agreed to go to Seventh Heaven – so Elena wasn't going to miss the ability to spend time with him outside of work. Elena was happy to have some company. Since Reno and Rude would be preoccupied, she would have Tseng all to herself.

Tifa had been shocked when Tseng entered her bar. She had been sure he died at the Temple of Ancients after Sephiroth stabbed him through the chest with his masamune blade. Aerith hadn't survived a similar attack. Cloud had survived it too, and it angered Tifa a little to know that the only person who seemed to lose their life to that freakin' sword happened to be her best female friend.

But it was now confirmed that Tifa _had_ seen Tseng at the hospital during Meteorfall. She and Cloud had been searching for patients floor by floor at the hospital when she heard sounds coming from a room with a light still on. She was just about through her usual speech when she realized she was looking at Reno, Rude, and Tseng. The three froze when she leaned into the room – Reno bending over to gather Tseng's clothes and Rude helping Tseng, who was halfway through getting off the bed. Before Tifa could say another word, Cloud pulled her away.

It also proved to Tifa once and for all that the rumors swirling through Edge over the past couple years about Rufus Shinra surviving Weapon's attack and running the company from some secret base somewhere.

Sure, Reno and Rude had all but confirmed it a couple months earlier, but she hadn't seen any evidence of it other than the fact that the Turks still traveled together. Reno had said months ago that they worked "security" now. He may have been telling the truth, but she wondered what he really meant by that. Did they really just patrol Edge alongside the cops, taking out fiends that threatened the town? She found that hard to believe, especially since they all still wore their Turk suits.

But she also knew that Reeve was receiving support from _someone_ or some corporation as he worked to develop Edge. Reeve was smart and ambitious, but Tifa had wondered if he were capable of true leadership over a prolonged period.

She carried a tray of drinks over to the table occupied by the Turks. Reno was several drinks in but showed little sign of inebriation. Rude was matching his partner drink-for-drink and Tseng and Elena were just receiving their second of the night. Tifa stood between Reno and Rude, who were seated closest to the bar with their backs to it. They were both trying their best to pretend they _weren't _there to watch Tifa.

The barmaid leaned over the table to hand Tseng and Elena their drinks, unaware that Reno was making crude gestures and expressions behind her derriere. Elena glared at him as he did so, Tseng didn't seem to notice, and Rude remained his emotionless self. Reno knew when Rude was amused, though, and right now he knew Rude was fighting back laughter in his own way.

What none of the other Turks saw, however, was Reno's nimble fingers slip Tifa's PHS out of her back pocket and under the table, between his thighs. He planned on having a little fun with her later.

As Tifa turned back to her perch behind the bar, Reno grabbed her wrist and pulled her back so that she fell onto his lap. Perhaps he _was_ feeling some of the effects of alcohol. Tifa struggled to get up as Reno laughed. She was used to rowdy patrons making sudden moves on her, but today, of _all_ days, was not the day she needed Reno to pull a move like that. He had just come dangerously close to recreating part of her dream before she managed to stand up and adjust the hem of her skirt, hoping her face wasn't as red as she thought.

She gave his shoulder a hard shove before turning and briskly walking back to her bar as Reno continued to be amused with his own antics. He quieted down and took a sip of his drink, his lips still curled into a smile that he wouldn't be able to shake the rest of the night no matter how hard he tried. He held the glass in front of him with both hands and stared at the liquid inside as he settled down.

Elena knew. She knew why Reno was acting that way. He was like a little kid with a crush, teasing the object of his affection. Elena bet he pulled girls' pigtails when he was a kid, though she could never picture Reno as an actual child.

Reno knew what he was doing, too. What Reno didn't know – but that Elena also knew – was that Reno wasn't just acting this way because he desired Tifa physically. Elena had never seen Reno act this way over any other woman. This was the longest, slowest, _saddest_ pursuit Elena had ever seen from Reno. Literally, _years_, and tonight was the first night he even physically flirted with her. Prior to that it was just the odd sexual remark. Elena chuckled to herself before pitying her colleague. Reno was fiercely loyal to Rude, so Elena knew why the redhead wasn't really pursuing Tifa. It almost pained her to watch, since she knew Rude was never going to make a move. The move Reno pulled tonight had to be an indication that it was getting harder for him to control his feelings.

Elena suspected the incident tonight had to do with Reno suturing one of Tifa's wounds the other day. He had returned to their new office in an odd mood. He seemed, flustered, for lack of a better word. He carried with him his trademark grin, but Elena saw through it. She could practically see his heart aflutter. Just as tonight, he was trying to wipe the smile from his face, but his pale skin couldn't hide his pink-tinted cheeks. She almost wanted to tease him about it, but she knew her attempts always somehow ended with Reno and Rude ganging up on _her_.

There was something else Elena noticed tonight. She hadn't been to Seventh Heaven that often, certainly not for a month or so, and she had previously sat with Reno and Rude at the bar. On those occasions, Tifa almost never looked over at them. She was a skilled bartender and knew how long it took particular types of drunks to finish their beverages. She would only look over in the Turks' direction when one of them needed a drink, and she never made eye contact. She would just look at their glasses. She would then walk over and take their glasses so she could provide them new drinks, without objection from them. Elena listened as Reno and Rude talked about how friendly she had become with them, but her previous interactions with the bartender made her skeptical of their claims.

Tonight was different. Tonight, Elena caught Tifa looking over at their table – at _Reno_ – throughout the night. Something had changed. Tifa had been predictably shocked and embarrassed when Reno pulled her onto his lap, but what he didn't see – what no one else at the table saw – was the look on Tifa's face in the brief moment as she turned her back to them.

Elena saw that Tifa's face was far too red. She wasn't angry, she was blushing. A smile formed on her lips as she turned and sauntered back to the bar. She walked with a slightly different gait than usual, like she was purposefully moving her hips more.

It clicked with Elena immediately. Tifa Lockhart, the woman who wished the Turks were dead. Tifa Lockhart, the woman who had _herself_ tried to kill Elena's coworkers. Tifa Lockhart, member of AVALANCHE, a group dedicated to destroying Elena's employer. Tifa Lockhart, sworn enemy, had a sex dream about Reno the night before.

Not only that, but Elena knew Tifa was struggling with something involving Reno now, due to the awkwardness of the bartender's actions. She didn't appear to be attempting to flirt, or if she was, she wasn't very good at it. Elena supposed Tifa never really had to develop such skills with the way she looked and due to the fact that the only man that ever seemed to hold her attention was completely oblivious but was also already in love with her.

Sometimes Elena hated her ability.

_Later…_

Reno returned home to his apartment and let out a deep sigh, tossing his keys on the console table to his left and running his hands through his hair to remove his goggles, placing them on the table as well.

Home wasn't what it used to be when the Turks lived in the Shinra building. Now he felt far away from his comrades even though they were in the same city. Reno had used some of the money in his old getaway bag to purchase a swanky apartment in the upscale north part of Edge once the town was built enough to have such a region. It was a risk to dip into his stash, but he had already repleted most of the money already. Even in its diminished capacity, Shinra paid well.

Rude, however, had purchased a more modest apartment in the east part of the city. Elena and Tseng each lived somewhere in between. Reno was used to being around his colleagues all the time, so even the distance between their homes made it seem like they had grown apart.

That was not what weighed heavily on him tonight, though. Tonight, his mind was elsewhere. He'd flirted with women before - many women, many times - but something about Tifa on his lap tonight didn't sit well with him. He'd pulled that move with other women at other bars before - when he was pursuing them - so it wasn't out of the ordinary for him. But he wasn't _pursuing_ Tifa.

He had buried his attraction to her for so long he couldn't even remember what it felt like, but since he and Rude had been going to her bar, those dormant feelings had re-emerged and he didn't like it. Rude was his best friend and had an actual crush on Tifa, yet Reno couldn't get her off his mind. He needed Rude to get over her, then he could either pursue her or hate her for hurting his friend. Preferably the latter.

He laid down on his bed feeling guilty for taking her phone and putting his number in. That was a step too far toward hurting Rude. He pulled out his phone and held it over his face, staring at her name in his contact list. Maybe he could flirt with her knowing he didn't have a chance. It might help him get past his desire - for her body, of course. Maybe if he flirted with her, she would start hating him again. That would certainly fix whatever it was that was clawing in his brain, like someone running a single nail down a chalkboard.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _This is going to hurt_.

_Meanwhile..._

The rest of the evening passed without another incident from the Turks. Tifa tried to avoid their table as much as she could and she definitely didn't stand next to Reno when she did take them new drinks. It had been a strange feeling with all four of them in the bar that night. She had gotten to know Reno and Rude pretty well over the past couple of months, but Elena looked like she still hated Tifa – and Tseng looked like he didn't want to be there. Four sets of eyes with very different looks in them. Reno, with his wandering eyes and antics. Rude, with quiet admiration. Elena, with jealous hatred. And Tseng, with unreadable disinterest.

Tifa flopped back on her bed after closing up the bar and cleaning up. She was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep, hoping a certain red-haired Turk _wouldn't_ enter her dreams again. She had smiled to herself when he pulled her onto his lap, even though she was embarrassed and angered by his brazenness. She assumed he just wanted to fuck her; some of his comments made that clear, but his actions tonight were curious. Or maybe it was just because the dream was still on her mind. Why did he pick tonight to do this? Did he know? He was a Turk, could he sense what she had dreamed about?

She shuddered at the thought. She had gotten pretty close to them these past couple months but not close enough for them to know her darkest, most embarrassing thoughts.

As she closed her eyes to once again drift off to her memories, she heard her PHS vibrate on her nightstand. She snapped her eyes open and grabbed the device, thanking it for interrupting the impure thoughts she wished would disappear.

Her heart began to race, and butterflies formed in her stomach as she pulled the device to her, wondering if the message was from Cloud.

_Cloud, remember him? _She wanted this day to end so she could go back to hating Reno and dreaming about Cloud's return. He was the only man she wanted making her panties wet and pulling her onto his lap.

She flipped open the PHS and immediately sat up in a panic. If the message wasn't from Cloud, she at least thought it would be from one of her other friends checking in – most likely Yuffie – or asking if there was any change in the monster attacks. What she did _not_ expect was a message from this particular person; a person whose number she didn't even have in her phone but whose name now appeared on her screen:

"1 text message from Reno."

_What the? How did he…? _ She thought back over the night. Reno must have stolen her phone and put his number in it, but when? Her PHS had been in her back pocket all night and she hadn't felt it move. It had to have happened when she delivered them drinks or when he pulled her onto his lap. _Hopefully_ that was what she felt between his legs when she landed on him.

_That sneaky little…_

She would kill him. This may not be "Turk shit" but it was pretty damn shitty. Stealing her phone to taunt her. So why wasn't she angrier? A nervous smile crossed her lips as she opened the message.

"So, how flexible ARE you?" it asked.

Yep, she was going to kill him.


	7. On Our Way

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**This chapter shares some similarities with "On The Way To A Smile: Case Of Shinra," but again, this story does not take place in the Advent Children universe. This takes place in the Remake Universe, and there was never any geostigma or the remnants.**

**Updated 6/20/2020: Edits throughout. Added a new scene with Rufus and reworked the scene with Reno and Tifa in the alley to make it less creepy.**

Chapter 7:

"So, are you _ever_ gonna make your move?" Reno asked Rude as they patrolled the streets of Midgar.

"…"

Reno needed the brunette out of his head. The fastest way to do that was to get her with Rude or to get Rude over her. If he could get her to go out with Rude, it'd be much easier for him to stop thinking about her the way he currently was. In the meantime, he was in a losing battle with his own desires. He knew he shouldn't take her phone or text her, but he did it anyway. It was like his heart and fingers were working against his brain.

The Turks were walking down the main street of Edge – the one that led right out of the city. The sun was out as summer was in full swing, light shining down on them as they patrolled. They'd thought the heat would keep the monster attacks to a minimum, figuring even fiends would seek shade or cooler areas than a wide-open city. No such luck.

_Flashback…_

After Meteor wreaked havoc on Midgar – and Shinra – the Turks banded together to formulate a plan. For a couple weeks after the calamity, they believed their boss had been killed and their employment ended. They didn't know what do next, as their lives had been consumed by taking care of Shinra's dirty work. Without dirty work to be done, what could they do? Find different careers, move apart, and blend into society like a bunch of filthy normal people?

They kept living in one of the dome relief tents to watch over Tseng as he recovered and they tried to figure out where to go from there. Reno was surprised when Reeve, begrudgingly, contacted them soon after Midgar was destroyed. They'd helped him during the calamity, but the antipathy between him and them was still present. Reeve said he was undertaking the development plan for a new city called Edge, and though he loathed the Turks as an organization, he needed their help to ensure the city streets were safe while he trained a citizen police force and raised funds for professionals.

What Reno didn't know was that Reeve assumed he could get the Turks cheap, fearful as they were of having to live normal lives and work regular nine-to-five jobs.

He was right.

Part of the reason Reeve hated the Turks was because of their arrogance; their air of superiority. They knew they were untouchable so long as Rufus was around, so they walked the halls of the Shinra building as if they owned the place – especially after Rufus took control. Part of the reason Reeve needed the Turks was their fighting abilities and the fear they instilled in the average person, whether that person knew who they were or not. That was the other thing about the Turks; whether they were laughing or walking quietly or even passed out drunk, they carried with them an aura that they were not to be messed with.

Reeve envisioned a more supportive police force in the future, but for now he would settle for what was cheap and available. If people knew the Turks were patrolling, he could keep the peace with just a few people while he built up the police department.

In the beginning, Reno and Rude were able to split up, since the monsters inhabiting the plains around Midgar were weak. So weak, in fact, that the townspeople themselves could usually handle the creatures. Still, Reno and Rude were being paid and the work wasn't difficult.

Reeve quickly began contracting them to return to Midgar proper and retrieve supplies, weapons, and equipment for the reconstruction effort. Most of it was stored in warehouses in Sector 5, but they occasionally needed to make trips into the old Shinra building.

It was on one of those trips that they decided to climb up to Rufus' old office and have a look around. They planned to tell Reeve that the trip simply took longer than expected due to the damage; he was too busy to pay attention to how long they were gone anyway. So, Reno and Rude climbed the staircases they never had to take when the building was still in operation – the same staircases Cloud and his friends climbed on two occasions, though the Turks didn't know that. When they reached the 59th floor, they moved to the other main staircase, climbing over debris and breaking down doors as needed. Their keycards no longer worked, but the security system holding the doors sealed didn't work either, making said doors much easier to break down than if the power had still been on.

When they opened the door to the 68th floor, they felt the rush of wind on their faces, reddening their cheeks as it whipped by at the high altitude. A giant hole had been blown in the side of the building, and the staircase was gone.

Nearly defeated, the duo looked up for an alternate route, finding only one: A long steel I-beam that was bent, but not broken, and stretched between the two floors. It was precarious, as the beam was still nearly vertical and the walls and floor around was almost nonexistent. Just a small patch of flooring connected the beam to the rest of the floor, and the Turks could see miles of rubble hundreds of feet below them.

Reno looked at Rude with red hair flailing wildly in the wind and whipping his face painfully, hoping his bald friend would have some other solution. Rude stared back with his impenetrable gaze behind dark-tinted sunglasses and said nothing. Reno looked back to the steel beam and took a deep breath.

"Well, time to climb," he said, mostly to psych himself up.

He reached around the beam and tried to shimmy up but didn't get very far due to its awkward shape. He next tried to stand in the cross-section of the "I" and place his legs against one side of the steel and his back against the other in an attempt to walk up the beam. He quickly fell on his ass with a string of curse words.

Rude watched Reno's pitiful attempts with his arms folded across his chest. He was amused, but his face showed no such emotion.

After watching Reno let out an agitated grunt as he ran toward the beam and tried to jump onto it as high as he could before attempting to shimmy up with a foot pressed against either side of the parallel steel, Rude decided to interfere. Reno was going to kill himself before he figured this out.

He walked past Reno's form, which had fallen once again to the ground, and picked up a stray piece of cloth that had once been a curtain. He held onto one end of the cloth and threw the other around the beam. It took him three tries to catch the other end due to the wind, but once he did, he wrapped the ends around his wrists. He then leaned back and simply walked up the cross-section of the beam to the next floor, using the cloth to brace himself.

Reno glared at his comrade from the floor below and found his own tattered curtain to use. When he caught up to Rude, he sneered.

"That was my _next_ idea," he said.

The stairs leading up to Rufus' office were destroyed on the right side, but the left set of stairs were largely intact and provided the Turks no difficulty in climbing. Rufus' office – if it could still be called that – was not a room that had survived Meteor. Some beams that had once held up walls still remained, as did a portion of the floor and the desk. Shards of glass littered the floor around the desk from the window that once provided an astonishing view of the world outside. Now that window existed only in bits, many of which had been blackened by Weapon's attack.

In fact, there was an obvious trail of burnt debris, glass, and remaining building where the attack struck. Reno realized at once that no one could have survived up here, and he braced himself for what he was about to find. He slowly made his way to the desk, taking care to avoid the exposed electrical wires that were blowing about. Rude walked up on the other side of the room to cover the most ground.

When Reno reached the desk, he noticed a distinct lack of Rufus – no bits, no pieces, no charred remains. He turned back to the direction he had come, considering the possibility that his former boss had been blown out the back of the office and down to the streets below.

Reno looked at Rude in dismay, the gravity of what they had just found weighing on both of them. It was then that they simultaneously heard a rapping sound under the desk.

Now that they had noticed it, they couldn't _not_ notice it, as it quickly became deafening. They both crouched down to look under the desk to find the source of the annoying sound.

On the floor was a small, square piece of sheet metal – it couldn't be more than five-square-feet in size. It was bent at one corner and tapping against the desk, but it wasn't flying away. Reno reached to pick it up and found that it was attached to the floor with two hinges. He could see that below the piece of metal emanated a soft white light. As he inspected closer, he saw what appeared to be a tunnel.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, bumping his head on the desk above him. Rubbing the crown of his head, he retreated from the area so that Rude could see for himself.

"An escape hatch," the bald Turk said, as if he had known all along that it was there.

"You knew about this?" Reno asked. His voice held the quality of a person who had just learned they were left out of a secret. Rude shook his head.

"No," he said simply.

"Where does it go?"

Rude shrugged.

"Well, only one way to find out," and with that, Reno disappeared into the floor.

Rude listened for a moment to Reno's screams. After the initial shock wore off, it appeared the red-headed Turk was _enjoying_ his fall into oblivion. Hearing no obvious agony, Rude decided he had given his partner enough time and eased himself down into the hatch.

Rude had not expected the lights to go out so quickly, or for the drop to be so steep. True to form, he remained silent throughout the ordeal, letting out only the softest of grunts as the incline began to shift to a more pleasant degree and the shaft began to twist around and around, as if he were in a water park slide. He could no longer hear Reno's amused outbursts and wondered if he had just thrown himself to his death. He hadn't feared death, but he did have one regret: He had never asked out Tifa Lockhart.

Rude saw a bright white light coming toward him at an uncomfortably fast speed. Yep, he was dying. Oh well.

The bright light suddenly became all he saw for a brief moment before Reno's back suddenly appeared. Rude plowed into his partner feet first, and they were both thrown against a wall.

"Fuck…" Reno said, staggering to his feet. Now his head _and_ back were in pain, and he had no clue where he was.

Rude was the first to recover and assess his surroundings. They were in a small room with white plaster walls and not much else, except for… President Rufus Shinra sitting on a cot?

"Boss!" Rude said with more gusto than he had possibly ever exerted in his life.

The word caused Reno to snap out of his stupor and spin around on his heel as if pulled by a string.

"President!" he exclaimed before running to meet his employer.

Rufus had woken up when Reno came flying from the hole in the wall but said nothing as he wondered why it took someone so long to find him. The first amusement he had in weeks came when Rude crashed into Reno and they both hit the wall.

"It's about time," Rufus said impatiently.

"We thought you were dead!" Reno offered.

"No, just trapped in his room with a broken arm and dwindling supplies."

The three immediately realized that they were all trapped together now.

"There's a pin-code lock on the door, but I can't figure out the combination," Rufus said, pointing with his good arm.

Reno stretched his arms, interlocking his fingers to crack his knuckles and indicate he was ready to get down to business. Apparently, there was a generator somewhere that kept this door working when the others didn't. Must have been an extra safety precaution.

"Leave it to me, boss," he said, strolling over to the lock like he already knew the combination.

He tried a couple different strings of numbers before hitting the damned thing, which didn't work either.

"My father must have built this before he died," Rufus said as Rude used the bedsheet for a makeshift sling.

"Your dad, huh?" Reno asked, stroking his chin.

He input another set of numbers. They didn't work. He tried a second combination and gasped in excitement as they all heard the distinct sound of the door mechanism unlocking. Rufus stood up quickly and was behind Reno in an instant.

"What numbers did you push?"

"Your birthdate," Reno said, placing his hands behind his head in satisfaction.

Rufus let out an agitated sigh. He could have kicked himself.

"The absolute last combination I ever would have tried," he told the Turks.

The next few months were spent at Healen Lodge with Rufus as he "recovered" from his ordeal of being cooped up in a bunker for a few weeks. Okay, so he was running out of food since the shelter wasn't meant for long-term living, but still. It wasn't like he was near death's door like so many other people were after Meteorfall.

The fresh air and open spaces of Healen were hell for Reno. It gave him the same feeling that a claustrophobic person would experience in cramped spaces. The flowing waterfalls, the babbling brooks, the greenery – it all stifled the red-haired Turk. He grew up in Midgar, and even though it was a wasteland, he'd take garbage and metal and glass over the peaceful tranquility of Healen any day of the week.

It was too quiet at Healen. All they did was sit around while Rufus did whatever he did to recover. Nurses were constantly entering and leaving his domicile, giving him unknown medical treatments while the Turks played on their phones or read magazines. Sometimes Rufus would dismiss them for the evening or weekend. Elena would go wherever Tseng went – and Tseng usually stayed closed to Rufus, but Reno and Rude would use the time to go back to Edge and help the rebuilding effort. They'd check in with Reeve to see if he needed anything from Old Midgar and then do what was needed.

"Status report?" Rufus asked one day after a mineral bath.

Reno stood quietly, having no clue what Rufus could mean. They hadn't had any missions and had been at Healen for weeks at that time, there wasn't anything to report. Thankfully, Tseng found something to say.

"Sir. Reeve continues to build Edge," Tseng began. "The city is moving off mako power and onto oil and coal. The people are starting to heal."

"And what do they say of Shinra?" Rufus asked. Tseng cleared his throat nervously.

"They're glad it's gone."

Rufus fell silent for a while, turning his back to the Turks and looking out the window of the large domed hut he inhabited at the lodge. He ran a hand through his hair to sweep back the errant lock of hair that always fell in front of his face.

"Shinra needs to be part of the rebuilding effort. The people need to know that Shinra works for them now," he said, not looking at the Turks.

"Sir?" Tseng asked.

"I'll fund the reconstruction," Rufus said, spinning around to face the Turks again. "We'll keep it quiet at first, so the people accept the new city. Then we'll let them know that it was Shinra who rebuilt their lives."

None of the Turks said anything.

"In the meantime," Rufus continued, "keep your ears to the ground for rumors about power brokers. I don't want anyone trying to leech off my work."

With Rufus alive, Reeve was no longer forced to carry the entire burden of Edge on his shoulders, freeing him to develop the town as he saw fit. With Shinra back in action, the Turks could resume their former lives, though Rufus asked them to still patrol the streets when they weren't on assignment, especially once the monster attacks became more regular.

The other rehired Turks returned to their hometowns as remote employees, conducting clandestine missions and staying on the lookout for anti-Shinra syndicates. The former Midgar-based Turks – Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena – became Edge-based Turks. Since the monster attacks had increased, they were on edge, relegated to patrol duty rather than any of the fun "Turk shit" Reno promised Tifa they no longer participated in. He hadn't lied to her when he said it, as by then they really weren't conducting assassination missions. Well, Reno and Rude weren't, at least.

It was now nearly two years since Rufus Shinra was discovered alive, and Edge had its own professional police force. Reno and Rude requested that if they were going to continue "keeping the peace" in their own way, they be allowed to focus on just one section of town. Luckily, the section they wanted was also the main road in town, making it appear as though they were hungry for work. Predictably, there was one notable feature of the main road: It contained a little bar called Seventh Heaven.

_Present day…_

"Oh. My. GOD. Would _one_ of you make a move already so I can stop hearing about this?!" the shrill voice of Elena could be heard behind Rude and Reno.

With the police force handling the majority of the monster attacks elsewhere in the city, Tseng asked Elena to join Reno and Rude with their patrol, since the main road had become infested with monsters. It was now almost as dangerous to live in the city as it would be to live in the open plains nearby.

Rufus couldn't have that. Not in _his_ town. He had learned that the monster activity had heightened around the world, and he had been devising a way to get it under control. What that plan was, no one knew yet.

The two male Turks stopped dead in their tracks after Elena's exaggerated snipe. They turned to face her, with Rude giving Reno a suspicious stare down and Reno shrugging his shoulders to indicate he had no clue what she meant.

"What do you mean, _one_ of us?" Rude asked.

Elena realized that Rude _still_ didn't know that Reno had a crush on the same woman and decided it wouldn't be her place to inform him. Besides, it might be a _little_ fun to see the boys fight each other instead of always ganging up against her.

"I mean that I just want _someone_ to make a move on her so I can stop hearing about her all fucking day long!" Elena said, her hands on her hips and bending her shoulders toward the boys. They looked at each other again in confusion. Elena groaned.

"Ugh! All day it's 'are you gonna ask her out?' 'I'm waiting for the right time.' 'It's always the right time, yo'" she said, mimicking their voices for their parts of the conversation.

"I _am_ waiting for the right time," Rude said, sternly.

"Oh, come on!" Reno groaned, rolling his head along with his eyes. "She already knows you like her. Hell, everyone and their sister knows you like her! They overheard everything in Gongaga."

"…"

"What do you even see in her, anyway?" Elena interrupted, letting out all her pent-up frustration on the subject. "You do remember she's tried to kill us before, right?"

"Yeah but," Reno made a crude gesture with his hands to indicate Tifa's breast size.

Elena scoffed and looked at Rude.

"And you?"

"…" Rude was not one to describe his feelings.

"You two are pathetic."

Elena shoved her way through them and continued walking down the street in a huff. Rude gave Reno another suspicious glance as they turned to follow their blonde comrade.

_Later…_

Elena again found herself sitting in Seventh Heaven against her will. This time, Tseng didn't join them, and she settled in for a long night of being ignored. Why not just leave? She wanted to, but she also got the distinct impression that one of those two goons would make an attempt to woo the – in Elena's opinion – overrated barmaid. Should that happen, she might be in for a little amusement.

They were seated back at the bar. Reno was on his third scotch, as was Rude, and Elena had just ordered her second vodka soda. The men hadn't said a word yet. Reno sat with his back to the bar as usual, scanning the room for women. Elena watched closely as Reno's gaze would turn to Tifa whenever she was working the tables and had her back to him. When she was walking back toward the bar, the redhead would lock onto some unsuspecting woman elsewhere. Rude, as usual, faced the bar but buried himself in his alcohol.

Elena rolled her eyes. They really were pathetic. The blonde noticed Tifa was acting different than she had a week ago – the last time Elena was in the bar. Tifa wasn't sashaying her hips or constantly glancing over at Reno. Instead, she seemed to be trying to avoid him. Whenever their eyes met, Tifa would quickly look away with a frown. Elena narrowed her eyes. Tifa was avoiding her feelings, trying to suppress something. Elena didn't think she could really have developed a genuine crush on Reno, but she certainly seemed on edge.

"I'm gonna go for a smoke, yo," Reno said to no one in particular.

Without waiting for a response from Rude or Elena he slipped out the front door and removed a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. He opened the pack and pulled out a cigarette with his teeth, reaching for his Shinra-branded lighter from his coat pocket. He held the filter with his teeth and flicked on the lighter, watching as a little puff of smoke exited the tip of the cigarette upon his first quick drag.

Tifa hadn't texted him back, which he expected – hoped for, actually. If he could prove to himself that he had no chance with her, maybe he could get over her. Or at least, that's what he thought at first. But since she hadn't texted back in a week and seemed to be avoiding him at the bar (it was subtle, but he noticed) it made him want her more. Maybe he just needed to _hear_ her turn him down?

Rude watched Reno leave, his eyes narrowing and his nostrils flaring just slightly. Reno was his best friend, but Rude was starting to suspect there was more to Elena's question earlier. What did she know that Rude didn't? Why did she demand "one" of them ask out Tifa?

A moment later, Tifa exited the back door of the bar carrying two large trash bags. She struggled with the awkward shape of them as she walked sideways down the narrow alley toward her trash containers. She set one of the bags down on the pavement and lifted the heavy lid with her hand, giving it a firm push to ensure it would open enough for the lid to rest upon the alley wall. She flung the other trash bag she was carrying into the carrier, then picked up the bag on the ground and deposited it as well.

"You never responded," a cool, silky voice whispered as she turned back toward the bar.

It was dark out, and she could see no one between her and door to her bar, as an outdoor lantern lit the area just outside her business. The sound came from behind her, too close for comfort.

She whipped around, ready to punch the owner of the voice, but her fist was quickly caught by his hand and pushed up against the alley wall. She was now backed up against said wall and feeling quite vulnerable. She knew it was Reno. She punched again anyway. As she did so, she was again surprised to find her hand caught and pushed above her. He now held both her hands in one of his own, large, calloused hands, his fingers long enough to nearly wrap around both her small wrists and push them up against the brick behind her.

They both looked at each other a moment, breathing heavily, noticing the tension of the situation. Reno's heart fluttered – he really hated that feeling. Tifa's chest was ever so lightly grazing his dress shirt as she breathed and he hoped there wasn't enough light in the alley for her to see that his chest and cheeks had turned red. Tifa felt heat in her cheeks, too, but quickly regained her composure and kicked Reno in the gut, sending him back against the other alley wall, which was only a couple feet away. He held his gut as she ran toward the back door of the bar.

Her survival instincts had kicked in, but so had his Turk instincts. This was not how he had planned this moment going.

"Geez, I forgot how hard you kicked," he said, still bent over.

"What the _hell_, Reno?" Tifa yelled at him, whipping around from the door to face him. "Was this some Turk mission all along? You two were just nice to me until I let my guard down? Is Rude about to show up too?"

"Easy there, Lockhart. No trick. I just wanted to talk to you alone," Reno said, standing back up and staggering toward her, holding his hands up in defense. "Honest."

"Well, stalking me in a dark alley isn't the way to do that!'" she said darkly.

Reno laughed. "I'll remember that for next time. Old habits die hard, yo."

Tifa smirked, realizing that she wasn't actually in danger. Two years ago, yeah, this would have been a bad situation. But now? The Turks were friendly, and she didn't see them as a threat, even in a dark alley.

Tifa crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at Reno, shifting her weight to one leg. "So, what was so important you had to sneak up on me in an alley to say?"

Elena's words _had_ struck Reno, and he figured they had lit a fire under Rude as well. He knew how his best friend felt and that Rude _actually_ liked Tifa, but when he heard the back door open while he was out smoking his cigarette, he found himself moving toward her. He wanted to say it was against his will, that his legs just carried him without even thinking, but...

He rounded the corner just as she threw away the garbage and approached her, forgetting for a moment that she hadn't been infused with mako and therefore able to see relatively well in the dark.

He walked up to her now, close enough for her to detect the distinct odor of a masculine lothario. And cigarettes. The light from the lantern above the bar door illuminated his face, revealing that sly grin of his.

"Reno?" Tifa asked.

He hadn't answered. He felt like he might have well been a little kid holding a note that said, "Do you like me? Check yes/no." He realized now he wasn't getting out of this situation with his dignity in tact.

"You never responded," he said again, his voice a raspy whisper.

"How did you get my phone?" she asked angrily.

"I have my ways."

This made Tifa even more uneasy. She now kept her PHS locked behind the bar, along with any other personal items Reno might want to "borrow." She also spent the morning installing a new deadbolt lock on the door to her apartment. She didn't think Reno or Rude would actually do anything to her, but the experience reminded her that she lived alone now and needed to be more aware of her surroundings.

"What are you doing?" Tifa asked, shrugging her shoulders a little and narrowing her eyes.

Reno didn't know how to answer her question. What _was_ he doing? He had taken her phone to get her number and now he was alone with her in a dark, secluded alley. It would be hard to explain those actions as innocent to Rude if he were to find out. Reno scratched the back of his head. He needed to change the subject.

"You wanna tell me about your dream?" Reno asked, his icy blue eyes fixated on Tifa's own burgundy ones, as he regained his usual casual Turk demeanor.

In the glint of light shining down the alley, Reno saw her pupils dilate. He could nearly see his own upside-down reflection in them. A sly, toothy grin crossed his lips. She had just given herself away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, turning her face to look past him down the alley. She focused on a tuft of grass poking through the space between two slabs of concrete at the end of the alley, where it met the sidewalk beyond. It was one of those curious city things, how greenery always seemed to try its best to eke out a living in a world of concrete and glass and metal.

"Oh, I think you do, Lockhart," Reno cooed, his voice now smooth and oddly comforting. He stepped toward her, standing directly in front of her.

Tifa snapped her head to look into his eyes once again. Her pupils were still large, and she scanned his eyes to see if she could glean any information regarding how, exactly, he knew about her dream. Was he just bluffing? He _was_ a sneaky bastard.

"How…?" she heard herself ask, quickly placing her hands over her mouth to stop the word from escaping. It was certainly not what she meant to say, but there it was, out into the cool night air like the smoke from one of Reno's cigarettes, which she could smell on his breath.

Reno's smirk twitched wider.

"I didn't," he said, his smile widening as he leaned over to her ear. "But I do now."

With that, he pivoted and casually walked down the alley away from the bar and turned the corner. Tifa stared after him for a moment, processing what had just happened. Her breath caught in her chest and a shiver ran down her spine as she watched him walk away. She cursed herself, again, for that stupid dream. Her heart was racing, and her cheeks were flushed. He _knew_ about the dream. She was mortified, yet somehow relieved. Maybe now she could forget about the dream and stop looking at him like he _wasn't_ one of the men who destroyed Sector 7.

She composed herself and re-entered her bar.

As she came inside, Rude was waiting for her. She didn't realize this, thinking he just happened to be near the back door while heading to the public restrooms. She glided past him with an uneasiness she had not possessed since the Turks first started coming into her bar.

"Tifa?" Rude asked, causing her to stop abruptly.

"Oh no…" she trailed off. Rude's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, which Tifa could see above his sunglasses. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Huh?" Rude asked. Tifa rubbed the bridge of her nose to release her aggravation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that wasn't directed at you," she said, her voice pleasant even though she was clearly agitated. "I've just had a long day."

"Well, I'd like to try and make it better, if you'd go on a date with me," Rude offered.

Tifa looked at him in shock. She knew Rude liked her. Or at least, he did years ago while there were all chasing Sephiroth. But he had never said anything before, and she kind of thought he had maybe moved on – hoped that was the case, actually.

As she considered his proposition – she didn't want to lose him as a customer but she wasn't interested in him, given his lack of shown personality and _his_ role in Sector 7 – she saw Reno re-enter the bar. He gave her a wink and a roguish smirk before sitting back on his stool. Rude had his back to his coworkers, leaving him still unaware of what Reno had been doing.

"I'll… I'll think about it," Tifa said.

She thought she saw a hint of a smile on Rude's lips before he nodded with a short grunt and promptly returned to his friends. She watched a moment as he said something to his colleagues. Reno then slapped him on the back in celebration. Elena placed both her hands on Rude's right shoulder and gave him a hopeful little shake. Rude seemed to ignore them both and return to his drink.

"It's about _damn_ time!" Reno said.

If only Rude had asked out Tifa _five minutes_ earlier, then Reno could have avoided making an idiot of himself in the back alley. He had momentarily lost his cool around Lockhart, and he wanted it back. Now that Rude had asked her out, Reno figured he could go back to simply imagining Tifa naked occasionally (more than occasionally) but nothing more. This weird, annoying, _awful_ feeling in his chest would go away and he could concentrate on his partner and best _friend's_ happiness.

"Finally!" Elena cheered. "What'd she say?"

"She'll think about it," Rude replied, continuing to stare at his drink.

Reno winced. That wasn't the answer he needed from her. He needed her to say "yes" so that his partner could be happy. He also would have accepted her saying "no" so Rude could get over her. But "thinking about it" wasn't an answer and meant this torture would continue.

"She just needs more time to see the real you," he told his partner.

"Yeah, she's only accepted you guys for the past couple months, right?" Elena asked, more concern her in her voice than she meant.

"Maybe," Rude said, finishing the last of his drink and standing up to pay. "Think I'll head out."

"I'll walk with you," Elena said.

"I just ordered another drink, I'll catch you guys tomorrow," Reno said, giving Elena a knowing glance and a nod as she turned back to look at him suspiciously just before she and Rude disappeared out the door.

Reno clenched his teeth and swiveled back to the bar as Tifa came to collect his friends' tabs.

"You should give him a chance," Reno said to her as she counted the gil she had just picked up. "Rude's a good guy. The best of us, actually."

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Tifa snapped, stunning Reno.

"I, uh, what do you mean?" he stammered.

"_You_ take my phone. _You_ corner me in a dark alley. And now you're telling me to go out with your best friend?"

She had a way of making him feel about two feet tall. He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, getting his confidence back.

"He's my best friend, Lockhart," he said, rising and reaching into his back pocket for a wad of gil. "I'd give up anything for him."

Before Tifa could ask what he meant, he was out the door.

She watched the door for a moment after he left, trying to decipher what he had just said. She thought he was showing interest in her – in some kind of clumsy Turk way. Maybe she had just read too much into it because of her dream. Reno was anything but clumsy around women, so why would she think that was the case?

But his words... "I'd give up anything for him," what did that mean? Was _she_ the thing to be given up? She shook her head. She didn't want to be having these thoughts. She didn't like Reno - or anyone else - in that way, she told herself. She supposed she was just still lonely and wanted to feel like _someone_ liked her. Yeah, that was it, she was just lonely. So why did she seem to _want_ Reno to like her?

And she didn't know what to do about Rude. He was a good customer, and becoming a kind of friend, but she didn't see him as anything more. She was also surprised to learn that he _still_ liked her after all this time. Him liking her at all had always surprised her, but the fact that he had held this flame for two years was astounding.

She closed up the bar later that evening and walked upstairs to her home, her steps heavier than usual. _Why won't Cloud just come back?_


	8. Lurking In The Darkness

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/20/2020: Edited Reno's thoughts in the beginning and added new scenes throughout.**

Chapter 8:

Reno fucked up – and he knew it. He let his sexual desire for Tifa cloud his judgement. Once he started flirting with her, he couldn't stop, and she noticed. He hadn't actually thought Rude would ever ask her out, so he thought his flirting was ultimately harmless.

But now that Rude _had_ asked out Tifa, Reno felt immensely guilty. But he also didn't know how to stop. Tifa was like an addiction he couldn't satisfy. When he wanted a cigarette, he had one. When he wanted booze, he'd go to a bar, or grab a bottle from his home or work desk, or, if all else failed, his emergency flask. But what could he do when what he wanted was something he couldn't have?

Tifa had mentioned his flirting the other night and he knew what that meant. He was in her head.

It was something he had done many, many times with women in the past. Sometimes, if he suspected a woman might be a bit too moral for him, he would plant the idea of himself in her head early in the night and let it marinate for a while. Then he would watch her reaction to determine whether he needed to choose another target or decide what course of action would work on that individual woman. He rarely had to change targets.

Elena wasn't the only one who noticed how awkward Tifa was the other night at the bar. Whenever he glanced back at the bar – he did like to look at her – he kept catching her gaze. She would quickly look away, clearly found out. When she would approach the table, she refused to make eye contact with Reno or even look in his direction at all, but she seemed to be trying to get his attention subconsciously.

Maybe it was his own wishful thinking or ego.

He figured he'd test his theory that she was behaving like someone who just had a sex dream by pulling her onto his lap. Okay, it wasn't entirely to test his theory; he did just want to feel her body against his for once, but his plan was successful. She didn't scowl or threaten him for his stunt, even though she did struggle to get away from him. When she shoved him after, it wasn't as hard or angry as it should have been coming from such a warrior. It seemed playful to him, like a teenager who had just been publicly embarrassed by her crush but secretly liked it. She may have well given him a light slap with an unserious "Oh, you."

Reno had planted the idea of him in her head, and he knew it was working. He didn't think it would actually work on Tifa Lockhart, but apparently, he was wrong. Every moment spent with Rude now was agony. Reno was an expert at hiding emotions other than anger, but he found himself struggling around his bald partner. On the one hand, he didn't want to hurt his best friend. On the other hand… could he possibly have a chance to sleep with Tifa?

She was the most unobtainable woman on the planet, in Reno's eyes. A former adversary, in love with the World's Hero, who was so famous and beautiful she couldn't possibly see the Turk as anything but an ant among men. He thought maybe he had walked into the only possible confluence of events to make her even remotely open to seeing him as something more than a Turk. Cloud was gone – more than four months now – and they were no longer adversaries. Maybe even almost friends. And he now knew her well enough to know that she didn't seem to look down on anyone, anywhere, for any reason. She was too good for him, yet she gave him the time of day.

Was _she_ playing _his_ game against him? No, of course not, he thought. She couldn't possibly know how to even play games with men's hearts. Not Tifa. Not pure, innocent, perfect Tifa. She probably did break a lot of hearts growing up, but never on purpose. Reno could imagine many men had loved her from afar, like Rude, only to be crushed by her devotion to Cloud Strife.

Reno and Rude patrolled the streets in near silence that day. For once, Reno didn't mind. He had one thing on his mind, and it was the one thing he couldn't tell his best friend, and Rude wasn't usually one to lead the conversation. With the streets clear and drinking time approaching, the two men stopped and turned to each other as they did every day before acknowledging where they were going.

"The bar?" Reno asked his partner. Rude folded his arms and grunted, considering the question – in sincerity, unlike his usual pretending.

"I think I'll give her another day to think…" the bald Turk said.

"Oh c'mon, it's been three days! You're not afraid of her now, are you?"

"No. I'm taking a page from your playbook."

Reno opened his mouth to object but realized Rude was doing exactly what he would do in this situation – except Reno never had to wait more than a few hours for a woman to make up her mind and he didn't actually _like_ the women he pursued. He instead placed his hands behind his head and blew air out of his mouth.

"Your call. Wanna drink somewhere else?" he asked, a strange feeling in his chest. They had been drinking at a different bar each night they didn't make the pilgrimage to Seventh Heaven.

Rude continued to consider the question, turning slightly and bringing a hand up to his chin.

"Think I'll take the night off," he said, to Reno's surprise.

"You're gonna sulk? She hasn't said no."

"She hasn't said yes, either."

"And she won't be able to say yes if you don't go to the bar."

"She can't say no, then, either."

"You're killing me."

"Sorry," Rude said before turning to walk toward his apartment.

Reno narrowed his eyes at his partner and watched him walk away. He considered following his friend and trying to get his mind off Tifa, but her bar was also calling him. Maybe he could satisfy his craving _and_ help his comrade.

"Tch," he said before Rude was out of his line of sight. Reno turned his head to look down the street toward Seventh Heaven. Maybe just one drink, to gauge where she was on the whole Rude-date thing.

He entered Seventh Heaven to find he was not the first customer of the evening. His usual seat at the bar was open, so he took it and waited patiently for service. Tifa had looked up when he entered – the chimes above the door made it impossible to sneak in – but she was taking orders at a rather large table. A familiar, rehearsed smile was his acknowledgment that she had seen him.

When she finally returned to the bar, she seemed more standoffish than she had in a long time. It was subtle, like she was trying to hide that something was bothering her, but he picked up on it. Maybe she had wanted to see Rude?

Tifa had been tending bar since she turned 18. Before that she had worked as a waitress and bar back to help Marle with the bills. In fact, she remembered her first night bartending. She was so nervous, she ran to the bar early to prepare and ran into someone on her way. She remembered thinking the person she ran into was the human equivalent of a tree trunk. She apologized quickly – a habit she still had from growing up in the sleepy town of Nibelheim – and rushed inside. She was frazzled in the beginning, pouring the wrong drinks and even dropping a tray, but she quickly fell into a rhythm.

After bartending four years, she was almost robotic in how she greeted customers just walking in the door. Her face muscles moved instinctively, without her even noticing. She'd snap her head toward the door the second she heard the chimes, the same smile on her face every time no matter who entered, or even if someone was leaving. It was uncontrollable.

So, when Reno entered, she gave him the same smile that everyone else received. She was relieved to see that he was alone, hoping she would get the evening off from Rude so she wouldn't have to let him down that night. She hadn't figured out how she would say it.

Yet, she wasn't thrilled to see Reno, either. She felt oddly rejected over the past couple days, after he told her to go out with Rude and then neither of them showing up. She didn't know why she felt rejected, she hadn't been wanting anything from Reno, nor had she really thought he was genuinely interested in her.

She thought it must have hurt simply because he seemed to have been flirting with her and then pulled back. It reminded her of Cloud – everything reminded her of Cloud – and how he pulled away. She apparently just couldn't read men.

She placed Reno's glass of scotch in front of him and didn't realize she had held the glass a split second too long until she felt his fingers brush against her own just as she was releasing the drink. She pulled her hand away abruptly, all the way to her chest, as if she had touched a hot stove.

"Someone's a bit on edge tonight," Reno said. Tifa looked at him, her cheeks containing a ghost of pink.

"Sorry, it's just…" she had no end for the sentence.

"… you were hoping Rude would be with me? I get it. He's a great guy," Reno replied, smirking. There was something hidden behind that smile though, it showed in his eyes. The smirk didn't reach them.

"He is," Tifa said in a tone that let Reno know exactly what her answer would be to his partner.

Tifa didn't spend much time around Reno for the next couple hours. It was a slow night and most of the customers were at the tables, so she didn't need to come back to the bar very often. He considered drinking faster just to be close to her, but he couldn't abuse alcohol like that.

Later into the evening, Tifa was bringing a tray of drinks to a table when the chatter at the table nearby picked up enough to alert Reno's heightened Turk senses. His attention had been drawn to that particular table a few times throughout the night, as it was occupied by a bunch of rowdy college students out drinking on a weeknight. Reno had considered hissing at them or giving a subtle Turk threat, but scolded himself for thinking like an old man. _Barely 30 and already wanting to tell people to get off my lawn_.

But this outburst perked him up. He spun his barstool around to see them riling up one of the young men at the table. They were across the bar, but Reno knew what they were doing and about to do.

Tifa was bending across the next table over to hand people their drinks. Her ass was far too close to the table of young men. Just as the one being dared reached out to grab a handful of her flesh, Reno was across the bar. Reno grabbed the younger man's wrist hard, stopping him just inches from Tifa's rump. The barmaid heard the sound of Reno shooting across the bar with his inhuman speed and turned to find the reason behind his sudden movement.

"Reno, let him go," she told him, seeing the pain on the young man's face.

Reno released his grip on the man's wrist. The youth snatched his hand back and rubbed his wrist gingerly, skin already red. His friends laughed, but he was not amused.

"Geez, when'd you get a new boyfriend, Tifa?" the man asked.

"Shut up and get out," she responded, pointing to the door and holding the now-empty tray to her chest, just in case he had any other ideas on his way out.

The young man apologized profusely, blamed too many beers, but ultimately left. Reno had seen Tifa throw out other guys who got too handsy. He knew she didn't need any help defending herself. Usually, however, the men were dealt with _after_ the offending action (she had several broken wrists under her belt), but for some reason Reno didn't want to watch someone else touch her. Granted, he was fully aware of the irony that not too long ago _he_ had been the offending customer.

"Were they good customers?" the redhead asked when he returned to his seat and Tifa refreshed his drink.

"They're college kids in Edge, what do you think?" she replied.

Reno chuckled for a moment before he remembered Tifa was _their_ age, not his. She should be acting just as stupid as they were, yet here she was, owner of her own business and savior of the planet. Reno knew what she had gone through in her life – it was all in her Shinra file – and he suddenly found himself angry that this beautiful creature didn't get the life she deserved. Well, okay, she got more a childhood than he did, but she should be at the table with those college punks, not serving them.

After most of the larger tables cleared and the bar quieted down, Tifa was washing some dishes in the sink, her back to Reno and the rest of her customers.

"What would you have done if it had been me?" he asked her. He'd been thinking about her potential reaction, given the way she had been acting these past couple weeks, but he hadn't meant to ask the question out loud.

"What do you mean?" she asked, continuing to wash a dish. Reno groaned. He was in too deep now.

"What would you have done if I had tried that move tonight?"

"You'd be leaving with a broken wrist, that's for sure," she said without missing a beat, like she knew all night he was going to ask that question.

"Good to know."

"Come to think of it," she said, rinsing her hands and turning the water off. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands and turned to Reno. "You did pull me onto your lap a while back, _and_ you stole my phone. Give me your hands, both of your wrists should already be broken."

She reached across the bar as if she were going to grab him. Reno pulled his hands off the bar and down to his lap – just in case she was serious.

"Slum justice," he said, trying to think of a way to drink without putting his hands back on the bar.

"I guess so."

"You know, I grew up in the slums," he said. It was the most personal thing he had ever told her about himself.

She rested her hands on the bar and straightened her back. She never really thought about where he grew up. She didn't take him for a plate kid or an outsider, like her; she just couldn't picture him as a child. He must have been a Holy terror.

"Oh yeah, which sector?" she asked.

He was surprised she asked. He figured she wouldn't care enough, still, to let him open up to her. Not that he was about to, it just felt right.

"Three."

Tifa whistled. Stunned, but with a hint of pride.

"I always heard that was one of the toughest slums, surprised anyone could survive it," she said.

"Oh yeah? Well, what slums did you grow up in?" he asked, knowing full well her life story.

"Seven, remember?"

"Yeah…" he walked into that one. "All slums were bad though, yanno."

"Sector 7 was rough when I first moved there, but Biggs and Wedge helped clean it up with the Neighborhood Watch," she explained before her eyes widened. "Oh! That reminds me, I need to call Wymer, he just got promoted."

"Who? What?" Reno said with just a hint disdain in his voice. Who was this other guy?

"Wymer led the Neighborhood Watch back in Sector 7. He joined the Edge Police Department and just made lieutenant."

"Oh."

"Sector 5 was also pretty nice as far as slums go," Tifa continued, not noticing his change in demeanor. "Aerith and her mom really helped out there. Sector 6 was a hellhole, mostly, but I always heard the other sectors were even worse."

"You never went to Sector 3?" Reno asked, regaining his interest in the conversation.

If Sector 6 was the place to find Shinra-sanctioned entertainment, Sector 3 was the filthier, darker, more dangerous version. The only women Reno met growing up were professional whores – not that he would ever tell Tifa that – and almost every man was in a gang. Those that weren't lived in fear of the gangs and the pimps.

"Oh, Gods no!" Tifa said, as if the answer should have been obvious. "I mean, the rumors made it sounds really scary."

Reno couldn't argue with that. If a girl like Tifa had wandered into Sector 3… well, he didn't want to think where she would be right now if that had happened.

"Should have dropped the plate on Sector 3…" Reno mumbled.

"That's horrible, Reno," Tifa scolded, throwing the dish towel she had used to dry her hands down on the counter and walking away from him in a huff.

Reno took a sip of his drink without trying to stop her. The rumors she heard about Sector 3 probably made it sound like The Gold Saucer compared to what it actually was. He finished his scotch, determined not to travel further down memory lane.

Tifa returned to him, calmer than when she last left, and refilled his drink.

"You okay?" she asked. He waved her off and cracked a lopsided grin.

"Of course, yo," he said. "Can't get caught up in the past, yanno?"

Tifa nodded but didn't say anything else.

No one else bothered her the rest of the night, but he stayed until closing anyway, just in case. He remained at the bar even after the last patron left, yet Tifa didn't seem to mind. She didn't even pressure him to leave. Something about their previous conversation weighed on her. This Turk, this _monster_, may have a backstory that explained his actions back then. Not only that, his usual lightheartedness appeared to dissipate when he spoke of his past.

Tifa didn't know if that was typical for him. Neither he nor Rude ever discussed heavy topics in her presence. She imagined they avoided the topic of their pasts for the same reason she did. She didn't push him to leave because it seemed like he just needed a little more time to sulk.

"Need some help?" he asked her as she gathered bottles and napkins off the tables.

She looked at him and blew a stray lock of hair from her face, thinking she had just misheard him.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Want some help? Closing up must take forever."

"Um, sure," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

It was the most mundane work Reno had ever done in his life, but he wasn't ready to go home yet. He pretended he was cleaning up a Shinra-related murder to get through it. This, however, surprised Tifa, as she was amazed at his cleaning skills. He knew what chemical to use for what substance, and what kind of cleaning material to use on what surface.

"Never figured you for a clean freak," she said as he scrubbed down a table.

"I can clean up when I have to, thankyouverymuch," he responded with mock arrogance. Tifa raised her hands in defense.

"Oh, excuse me."

"You think just cuz I'm a Turk I don't know how to do dishes?"

"I never said that," she replied, her tone lighter than it had been previously in the evening.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Lockhart."

"Tell me something, then."

He was taken aback by her question. He wasn't prepared, and he hated being unprepared. She couldn't possibly be interested in learning more about him, he thought.

"Uh, well," he scratched the back of his head. "Did you know I can dance?"

Tifa burst out laughing. "No way."

"A Turk has to be prepared for any situation."

"And dancing is one of those situations?"

"If you have to blend in to get close to a target, yes."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, maybe if you're good, I'll show you some day," he smirked. What was he doing? He was supposed to be helping _Rude_, not feeding his addiction.

"I'll hold you to that, too," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

It was then Reno remembered he had a meeting with Rufus the next morning, which meant he was getting a real "Turk" assignment. He might very well be contracted to do some of that "Turk shit" he promised Tifa he didn't do anymore.

"Uh, we're about done here, right?" he asked.

She dropped her arms to her sides and looked at him, a little confused. Just like before, he seemed to be flirting with her, but his demeanor had suddenly changed. Did she just have this effect on men?

"Sure," she replied.

"This was fun, but I got a meetin' with the boss man tomorrow mornin', yo," he said.

"Of course. Thank you for helping tonight, Reno."

He nodded. "S'no problem, Lockhart." He then saluted lazily and headed for the door.

Tifa stared after him a moment. What the hell was _that_ about?

_The next morning…_

Birds chirped from a nearby tree as the morning sun rose above Edge. Dew still dappled the plants in the backyard of Marle's orphanage and the air was cool but thick.

Tifa felt the sun on the back of her neck, warming her skin as she cleared her mind and closed her eyes. She was leading the children through a series of Tai Chi poses to warm them up for today's lessons. She breathed in and opened her eyes as she moved to part the wild horse's mane, watching the children as they mimicked her movements. She continued through her poses, breathing in and out and giving the children tutorials on how to clear their mind.

When she was training or fighting, she could heed Master Zangan's words, but as soon as she was going about her typical day, her thoughts kept wandering. Right now, however, the only thoughts on her mind were calming; about her next move. She finished her 24-posture warmup and smiled at the children.

"You all did great," she said, her face as warm as the rising sun. "Today, we'll be working on our dodge rolls. You can't fight back if you don't dodge first."

When she finished teaching the kids, she sat with Marle at the older woman's kitchen table, sipping coffee with her legs crossed under the table. Tifa held the coffee mug with two hands, sipping peacefully. She always enjoyed this part of the day, when her mind was steady after her workout. As the days wore on, she'd always end up thinking about so many things she wished she could ignore, particularly her ongoing worrying about Cloud.

"Should I go to the Forgotten Capital to look for him?" she asked Marle.

"Sweetheart, if that little ninja friend of yours had her heart broken, would you tell _her_ to go look for the guy four months later?" Marle responded in a motherly tone.

Tifa sighed and took another sip of coffee. "I guess you're right."

"He's _fine_. He's just a jerk," Marle said. Tifa was past the breaking point enough to hear harsher words about Cloud. "He's strong. He can take care of himself. He'll come back if and when he wants to. There's no one after him anymore. He can't be poisoned by mako anymore."

Tifa told Marle everything. Well, almost everything.

"But he was in so much pain before he left," she argued, though not forcefully.

Marle groaned. "Honey, you have got to move on. I hate seeing you like this again."

"I know, I'm sorry Marle," Tifa said, lowering the mug to the table and looking down into what was left of her coffee. "I've been getting better, I promise."

"I know. Sometimes you even seem happy," Marle said with a laugh, leaning back in her chair and looking through the doorway to where the children were.

Tifa didn't know what to say. She knew what Marle was talking about. For some reason, Reno's flirting put her in a good mood, loathe as she was to admit that. Marle would ask her why she was in a good mood and she would quickly wipe the smile from her face. She couldn't be happy because a _Turk_ was giving her attention, she just couldn't.

"Are you ever going to tell me?" Marle asked.

"About what?" Tifa said after taking another sip of coffee, feigning ignorance. Marle scoffed.

"Tifa, when could you ever hide anything from me?"

"…Never."

"It's one of those Turks, isn't it?"

Marle _always_ knew.

Tifa nearly choked on her coffee and began coughing. She put the mug down before she dropped it and Marle leapt up to get her a glass of water. As she was pouring, the older woman smirked. She placed the glass in front of Tifa and sat back down, arching her back and raising her shoulders as she rested her chin on her fist in anticipation of Tifa's admission.

"I don't _like_ either of them, Marle," Tifa said. Marle chortled.

"So, you _didn't _just choke on your coffee?" the older woman teased. Tifa scrunched her nose in mock annoyance.

"It's so annoying. He makes me smile and laugh. Sometimes I think about him during the day," she admitted. "I'm going to Hell, aren't I?"

Marle laughed. "We can't control our hearts, Tifa."

The younger woman groaned. She was so sick of talking about her love life, for lack of a better phrase. She and Marle talked about other things too, like how the bar or the children were doing. It's just that Marle was the only person she could tell anything without judgment. She didn't want to talk to Yuffie about these things, since Yuffie was so boy crazy she'd probably tell Tifa to go for it.

"A family is coming by today," Marle said after a pause in the conversation. Tifa perked up at this news.

"Oh? How did they sound?"

"They're a young couple who's been struggling for a while now to get pregnant. It sounded like they've given up," Marle said sullenly. "I think someone has a good chance to find a family today."

"That would be wonderful!" Tifa exclaimed, forgetting her own problems, thankfully. "Though I'm always sad to see someone go. I love these kids."

"Maybe you'll adopt someone of your own one day," Marle said. "Though I think you've pretty much adopted all of these kids."

Tifa chuckled and looked into the other room. The children were busy with their art projects. Tifa let out a breath and smiled as she watched the children at a moment.

"It's probably time I went to the theater," she said. Marle nodded.

"See you tomorrow?" Marle asked.

"As always," Tifa said as she walked out the front door.

She mentally kicked herself for telling Marle anything about the redheaded Turk that made her laugh every night. Saying it out loud made it real, and now someone in the world thought she had a crush. No, Marle didn't know _which_ Turk it was, but this was bad enough.

As Tifa walked to the theater, she decided she would not discuss this matter with Marle anymore. She wanted to just bury these feelings so deep they could never see the light of day again. There had to be ways to make her forget about Cloud that didn't involve sulking over some _other_ guy, especially not this particular guy.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno and Rude sat in the waiting room outside Rufus' new office, which was in a shiny new office space in downtown Edge. It wasn't as grand as the old Shinra HQ, but Rufus felt that if the company was going to rehabilitate itself after Meteorfall, it would have to rein in the luxury. At least for corporate matters. Salaries had returned to their usual grandeur as the company once again provided people with everything they needed: Equipment, vehicles, supplies, personal protection from monsters, whatever you needed, Shinra now sold.

Rufus also had some of the remote Turks scouring for new oil and coal deposits. The company had acquired some near Fort Condor, but Rufus was anxious to acquire more – and before anyone else could find them. If the world was moving off mako, Rufus wanted to be part of it. He had the Shinra scientists who still lived in Junon working on the underwater reactor to turn it into a deep-sea oil drill. No one but Rufus could afford such a switch, and he figured that if he could get to oil no one else could access, he could rule the world again.

Of course, the new Shinra building belied this goal. As the old building was built with looming black marble, intimidating from floor to ceiling, the new office was the exact opposite. The walls and floors in most places were white marble (the Shinra family seemed to just have an affinity for the material). Wood accented the marble and other stonework in a way that was modern and inviting. Now when people entered the Shinra building, they didn't want to leave. The old building was designed to strike fear in the hearts of visitors and would-be terrorists. It didn't do much for the morale of the workers, however.

The waiting room in which Reno and Rude now sat had wide, distressed wood panels placed horizontal along the entire wall, except for the large frosted glass doors that separated them from Rufus' office. They sat in posh, white leather chairs in front of an oblong wood coffee table. The receptionists' desk to their left was made of a simple maple wood with a frosted glass front similar to that of the doors. There were no windows, but a skylight above them bathed the room in a natural glow.

"The president will see you now," Rufus' receptionist informed them. She was a perky young woman who had, unfortunately for her, already hopped on the "Reno Train" shortly after she took the job about six months ago. She considered quitting, as he and the other Turks were frequently meeting with Rufus, but she resigned herself to pretending their encounter had never happened while secretly thinking her feigned indifference may lead him back to her. It wouldn't.

"Thanks, doll," Reno said with a half-hearted salute as he and Rude headed into Rufus' office. He didn't notice the woman try to hold back a smile.

"Reno, Rude, please, take a seat," Rufus said, motioning to the two leather chairs in front of his desk.

His new office was far less intimidating than his previous one, and far more modern. The room had a panoramic window along the back wall, and lines of paned windows on each side wall, giving the room a far more refreshing light than the seemingly endless night of the old Shinra building. It was still much too large a room for the limited furniture in it, though. Rufus' office took up the entire top floor of the building except for the receptionist's area out front, yet all that was inside was a desk and two chairs for guests.

Rufus' desk was made of a light birch wood, with a solid rectangle of wood containing drawers to his left and a glass-topped desk in front of him that was connected to the wood. The glass was raised in the back and to a lesser extent on the sides, with large metal bolts in the corners to fasten it to the wood underneath. Rufus couldn't say he liked the desk, since it lacked the splendor and intimidation of his father's (not to mention the escape hatch), but he understood the need to appear less imposing to the common people. Not that any commoners ever made it into Rufus' office, but he did invite the media in to interview him and photograph him in the new office enough to give such an impression.

Reno and Rude did as Rufus asked and sat down in front of their boss. They loved visiting the boss, and it could be seen plainly on their faces. Reno leaned back in his chair with his fingers intertwined behind his head, one foot resting on his opposite knee. Even Rude appeared to be glowing with anticipation, yet it wasn't obvious to anyone who didn't know him. To Reno, who had known Rude for about 14 years now, the bald Turk was practically beaming.

Why? Because whenever they were called into Rufus' office now, they were given a "Turk" assignment. Something with a challenge, something with danger, something with intrigue. They were excited, anything was more preferable to patrolling for fiends like a bunch of Shinra grunts.

"I've called you both here because I have a request."

The two Turks leaned forward in their seats, anticipation elevating their heartbeats.

"As you know, the world seems to be overrun with monsters," Rufus continued. "What I'd like is for you two to travel once again to the old Shinra building – to Hojo's lab."

Reno's anxious grin dissipated. He hadn't climbed that high in the old headquarters since the day they found Rufus, and he was not looking forward to making that trek again. Also, it wasn't dangerous, just tedious, as no monsters climbed that high. From what he remembered, there wasn't much of the lab left.

"I'd like you to look for any notes Professor Hojo may have left behind regarding Jenova, Meteor, the Lifestream, or anything related."

Reno and Rude looked at each other. While their faces were expressionless, they knew each other well enough to see that they were each confused by what Rufus was asking of them.

"Sir?" Reno asked first.

"I know this isn't a usual 'Turk' assignment, but there's more," Rufus continued. "After you've searched Hojo's lab on the 68th floor, I'd like you to travel into the Shinra basement, to Hojo's second lab."

"Second lab?" Reno asked, astonished.

He had worked at Shinra since he was 16 and heard numerous rumors about what was in the Shinra basement – mostly legends about prototype weapons and Hojo's horrific experiments – but he had never been. As far as he knew, Rude had never been either. But boy had he always wanted to see it. He and Rude had once tried to sneak down during a slow week. They managed to find a suspicious door that they thought must lead down to the basement, and they fooled the guards into leaving their posts with a simple ruse. (Reno sweet talked a couple female employees into coming onto the guards to lure them away. It worked, but each woman was angered to discover that they were not the only one Reno had spoken to about the distraction.)

Once behind the suspicious door, they headed down a set of stairs to a large vault door that required a key card. Thinking that, since they were Turks, they must have top-level clearance, Rude went ahead and swiped his key card, assuming that his card would draw less suspicion than Reno's.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, and an alarm immediately sounded. Within seconds, the two Turks were surrounded and brought to President Shinra's office. It was the closest they had ever come to being fired (even closer than the tainted-food-in-the-cafeteria prank).

Reno's excitement returned upon learning that he would finally be able to see what was in that basement.

"Yes, Hojo had a second lab in the Shinra basement," Rufus confirmed. "My father apparently never asked questions when it came to that man, and I suspect there may be any number of evils behind those doors – if it's still standing – as well as an untold amount of scientific information."

"What are you looking for, exactly?" Rude asked.

The Turks weren't used to asking questions, but he felt it would help them to narrow their search if they knew _why_ they were looking for this information. Rufus leaned forward over his desk and interlocked his fingers in front of his chin. It's how Tseng looked when he had important information to divulge.

"Shinra took a big hit politically due to Meteor, the Weapons, and Sephiroth," Rufus began. "I was hoping we could figure out what was behind the recent increase in monster activity and put a stop to it for the people."

Reno and Rude exchanged another look with each other and shrugged. Rufus could have said anything and they would have still been just as excited to go into the Shinra basement.

"You got it, boss," Reno said as the two Turks got up to leave.

"Oh, and Reno," Rufus said as they were nearly at the door. "Don't touch anything but Hojo's documents."

As soon as the door closed behind the two men, Reno dropped to the floor on his knees and raised his hands into the air in desperation.

"Whyyyyy?" he asked the heavens, before leaning forward onto his hands and punching the floor with his fist. "Why did he have to add that last part?"

Rude bent down to place a comforting hand on his comrade's shoulder.

"How would he know what we touched?" Rude asked, quiet enough so that the receptionist couldn't hear.

Reno looked up with him, his mouth open in an enthusiastic smile. He stood up and dusted himself off before motioning for Rude to follow him as he strutted out of the waiting room and then out of the building.

Upon exiting the building, Reno immediately took out his phone to send a text as he and Rude walked to their company car.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa felt her PHS vibrate in her pocket as she held a couple of boards in place for the designated carpenter to nail them down. When he was finished, she removed her phone from her pocket and checked the message, still holding out hope that it would be from Cloud, even though she knew at this point that was probably impossible.

"1 text message from Reno."

Tifa rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. She hadn't responded to his first text and didn't plan to respond to this one either.

"Feel like dancing, babe?" his message said.

"_Babe?_" she thought to herself, her eyebrows scrunching together and her lips tightening. "_BABE?_"

She was nobody's _babe_. Not even Cloud would be able to get away with calling her that, though in all likelihood he would probably only receive a light-hearted punch in the arm and a giggle to show her displeasure.

And what about that "feel like dancing" business? He kept flirting with her, she was sure of it now, but he'd always stop abruptly. It was starting to annoy her. Now this text message was starting the cycle over again. Like they had plans. Like they were close enough to _make_ plans. Like she would ever even want to.

If she could reach through her phone to slap him, she would have. What was his game?

Fate seemed to be continuing its cruel joke, as Tifa actually found herself watching the door each time it opened to see if the red-headed Turk was entering. Each time the door opened and someone entered who did not possess that certain roguish charm, her rehearsed smile would turn into a frown, and then she would mentally chastise herself for even _wanting_ to see him.

He had done something to her. He had cast some spell – but not from any materia she was familiar with. She told herself it was just because of that sex dream and bad timing, probably mixed with him being the first man since Cloud to give her any attention. Wait, no, that wasn't true – she was hit on every night. She was a famous, attractive bartender after all. So, why did it feel like Reno was the only man giving her attention, especially when Rude literally asked her out?

His minor and inconsistent flirtations were sticking with her long after he had left. She started wondering if he actually liked her. If he did, she was flattered, but she doubted he was genuine. But if he _was_ genuine, then she felt special, given his proclivity toward womanizing. No, he couldn't possibly be genuine. He must be working his charms on her like one of his sluts, and Tifa was determined not to fall for it.

Still, it was nice to be pursued – if that's what he was doing.

God dammit, what _was_ he doing?

More importantly, why was it working on her?

She was confused and suspected that's what Reno wanted. It was getting her to think about him way too often, and now she was actually anxiously eager to see him again.

Neither Reno nor Rude came to the bar that night. In fact, Tifa wouldn't see or hear from them for the next week, the longest she had ever gone without contact with the Turks since her bar first opened.


	9. Lab Rat

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/23/2020: Additional scenes throughout. The Turks now have to make their way through The Drum since this is a Remake fic.**

Chapter 9:

A sleek, matte black luxury sedan came to a halt on the street leading to the old Shinra building as the morning sun cast a blinding white glare over the husk of the office remains. The front bumper was wide and low to the ground, with a grill that took up nearly a third of the space. The slate-gray carbon hood contained a Shiva ornament at the front and slim panels that stretched down on either side of the grill. The head lights were narrow but powerful, with separate fog lights that were almost rectangular in shape.

The whole front end of the car was nearly as long as the cabin and trunk space combined. Harsh and industrial; it was a car that screamed government conspiracy. Four doors, with a brown leather interior and wooden dash panels. Every seat was heated, and the back seat was capable of reclining independently. In the middle of the dashboard was a large screen for the GPS and various other controls, including music, wi-fi, and a host of driving options. This particular model was almost always set in "sport" mode, as its owner cared little for traffic laws and speed limits.

It was surprisingly clean inside, except for a few discarded energy drink cans from that morning. One never knew when an attractive lady might need a ride. A gentleman's car must always be tidy.

Once the car stopped, settling back onto its large tires, the front two doors opened. A pair of black boots reached to the pavement below attached to legs clothed in expensive blue suit pants. The driver slowly exited the vehicle and turned to look up at the old Shinra building, leaning on the open door as he gazed up at his next destination. He hesitated a moment before closing the door, knowing he was in for an uncomfortable hike.

"I am _not_ looking forward to this," Reno moaned as he walked around the car and started toward the old headquarters. Rude said nothing, but followed his partner into the rubble.

They were greeted in front of the building by three ghosts. The creatures were no match for the two Turks, but it was odd that such monsters had reached the Shinra building, having previously preferred the train graveyard of Sector 7. Perhaps they were attracted by the hundreds of deaths that were caused when the building nearly collapsed.

Rude cast Firaga on the fiends, prompting them to retaliate with Reflect. That was Reno's cue to start firing his pistol while Rude did his best to punch the monsters before they'd disappear. One ghost vanished into the Lifestream, while the other two slashed at them. Reno knocked one upside the head with his EMR, using it as a baton to avoid being electrocuted by his own weapon.

When the final ghost was defeated, the two Turks looked at each other in confusion before turning to head for the side of the old Shinra building.

As they approached the door to the side stairwell, a rush of wind caused them to freeze and look over their shoulders. For a moment they thought they were just hearing things, but as soon as Reno tried to open the door, the wind passed in the opposite direction. He released the door handle and spun around, this time waiting to see what was taunting them.

It struck Rude first. He barely saw it coming until it was barreling over him. He was stomped beneath two mighty hooves but was spared by the tires, as they passed on either side of him once he was on the ground. Reno lunged at the eligor with his EMR, sending a shockwave through the rider's form. The creature turned back to Rude with Piercing Gaze, sending a laser beam directly into the bald Turk's chest. Rude was too stunned to move and found he was unable to cast any spells.

The eligor laughed and flew into the air above the Turks, circling and taunting them. Reno grunted and leapt into the air to swipe at the fiend again, bringing it crashing back to the ground. Reno used the eligor's momentary confusion to shock it with his mag rod, watching the shocks crackle and branch along the creature's body. It reared up in pain and disappeared back into the rubble of the city. Reno helped Rude to his feet and the two quickly ducked into the stairwell.

"What the hell?" Reno asked once the door was closed. Rude said nothing.

"There was nothing out there the last time we came here," Reno added. Again, Rude just looked at him without speaking.

Reno sighed and stood at the bottom of the stairs, craning his neck all the way back to look straight up and worrying what his car would look like when they finally left the building. All he could see was a flight of stairs above him, but he knew it was 59 floors before he would see anything other than a dingy metal stairwell. He closed his eyes as he mentally prepared himself for the climb. He cracked his neck on both sides and hopped up and down a couple times, shaking out his hands. He exhaled sharply and started to climb, Rude right behind him.

The first dozen or so flights were a breeze, but by the time Reno reached floor 15, he was already starting to slow down. Not much, but enough for him to think he had lost some of his youthful vigor. He remembered climbing these stairs almost two years ago – was it this difficult back then, too? He knew he had never wanted to climb them again, but he couldn't remember it hurting this much.

"I hate getting old," he said around floor 25.

Rude let out a short laugh that seemed choked by labored breaths. "Welcome to the club."

"Think we'll find anything in Hojo's lab?" the redhead asked on floor 37, trying to keep himself going.

"Maybe experiments," Rude offered.

Reno shuddered and kept climbing. Hojo had always creeped him out. He was reminded of what the former leader of the Turks, Veld, said to him after his final round of mako injections.

_Never come back here._

Reno and his fellow Turks had abided Veld's words.

They still had 20 floors to climb. Reno realized they had taken a break or two the last time they climbed these stairs. It _wasn't_ that he was two years younger back then, but this time he was trying to prove to himself that he hadn't lost a step.

"When this is over, _we_," Reno waved his hands between himself and Rude as they rounded the flight of stairs outside floor 42, "are going to Seventh Heaven."

"I suspect I'll need a shower first," Rude corrected.

"Good call."

They had slowed to a walk about 10 stories back. Reno's thighs were burning, and they still had a ways to go. He held on to the guard rail for support as he kept on trudging, Rude just a few steps behind.

"In retrospect…" Reno said between gasping breaths once they reached the 59th floor, "…a skyscraper… was a bad idea."

He wasn't out of shape by any means. They had been fighting monsters every day when they weren't on a special assignment. When they had come here last, they were energized by their determination to get closure on their former boss. This time, they not only knew what was in store for them physically, but also knew how boring and unlikely their findings would be. The odds of anything valuable remaining in Hojo's lab was minimal, considering what they had seen on their last adventure to the 68th floor.

They rested at the top of the stairwell for a minute. At least this area was still monster-free, as the doors were too heavy for fiends to open. The same couldn't be said for the main building. Just as they were about to stand up and continue, they heard a pounding on the other side of the door. They sure as hell weren't giving up, but they weren't looking forward to a fight after climbing so many stairs. Rude leaned against the door with his hand held up to give a countdown by fingers, ready to open the door and let Reno rush in with his EMR swinging.

The redhead laid out the unknown entity easily, but three more popped up in its place. The two Turks took care of those and looked around for more. The 59th floor was crawling with more of the monsters, along with fiends that shouldn't have been there, such as ghosts and cripshays. Luckily, the creatures were low level, but the sheer numbers of them made for an exhausting battle.

The Turks battled their way across the 59th floor and to the next set of staircases. As luck would have it, _something_ had destroyed the stairs up to the next floor, and there was nothing around they could use as a ladder.

"Great," Reno said sarcastically. He brought his thumb and index finger to rub the space between his eyebrows. "Now what?"

"Elevator shaft?" Rude suggested.

Reno closed his eyes in disgruntled contemplation. He knew that was their only option, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

_The sooner we get through this, the sooner I can see her._

Rude took a deep breath before looking up into what remained of the glass elevator shaft. The cars had fallen to their doom, but the cables remained. He gave one a tug as Reno fought off some more creatures, then jumped onto it and began hoisting himself up. Reno held his mag rod out in an attempt to keep some more unknown entities at bay. He had backed himself to the edge of the elevator shaft as the fiends slashed and snapped at him in an attempt to attack.

The redheaded Turk knew he had to be quick. He stuck out his electrified weapon one more time to move the fiends back before twisting around and quickly grabbing onto the cable in an attempt to scramble up to the next floor, where he heard Rude already fighting more monsters. One of the unknown entities grabbed Reno's ankle and began to pull him back. The redhead slipped down the cable a few feet before he was able to kick the fiend in the head and clamber up to his partner.

"I haven't climbed a rope since grade school," Reno said as he pulled himself up onto the next floor. "Never thought I'd have to do it again."

Rude made only the slightest grunt in response, punching an unknown entity in the jaw and snapping its neck.

Reno loved his missions with Rude. While most might find the man's lack of response insulting, Reno had come to understand the subtle nuances of Rude's facial expressions. For example, most people would have thought Rude had no interest in Reno's comment about climbing a rope, but to the red-haired Turk, Rude's face and grunt were actually saying: "Neither did I. I _hated_ climbing ropes in school. I hoped I'd never have to do it again. The worst though was when everyone had to stay behind to wait for the slow kid to climb."

"Oh yeah, that was the _worst_" Reno replied to Rude's silent response.

As Reno stood up to join his partner, he noticed that this floor, too, was crawling with fiends that shouldn't be here. A group of lesser drakes flew down toward them in an attempt to scratch with their back claws.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Reno whined as he and Rude prepared for another battle.

Reno clicked a button on his mag rod to create three orbs of electrical energy that floated across what was left of the 60th floor, electrocuting some of the creatures that seemed drawn toward its captivating light. The two Turks, meanwhile, fought off the drakes on their way to the stairwell. Out of nowhere, several cerulean drakes joined the flying horde and swooped down to attack the Turks.

They were surrounded, and by the time they reached the refuge of the executive stairwell, their clothes were beginning to show wear and tear. Not to mention the sweat they had both worked up. Thankfully, even these stairwells were still empty.

The two Turks caught their breath on the 67th floor, since the staircase leading up was now just rubble and impossible to climb.

"This is insane. It was empty two years ago!" Reno said, leaning back on the floor after taking a bite of a prepared meal they had packed for a prolonged mission.

They hadn't expected so many monsters to have turned the old Shinra building into their home, but they were Turks, and Turks were prepared for anything.

"If this is the main building, I'm not hopeful for the basement," Reno said at the end of their break.

"Maybe they couldn't get in," Rude said, more hopeful than Reno was accustomed.

The 67th floor didn't offer much promise, but at least the damage had made it inhospitable to fiends. Much of the ceiling was gone, and the duo could look straight up to what remained of Rufus' old office. Some of the drakes from several floors below joined them, forcing the Turks to kill them rather than hold them back. As if on cue when the lesser and cerulean drakes fell, two rust drakes appeared. The Turks ran as fast as they could to avoid being pulled into its gravity orb, feeling their insides getting squished whenever they came too close.

Gravity had always been an odd spell. It could never kill someone, but the intense squeeze one felt from its pull sometimes made them wish they were dead. Reno's head throbbed as he finally broke free of its pull. Rude leapt into the air to deal a series of blows to one of the creatures, knocking it to the ground as Reno shot a bolt of lightning at the other. Rude tore the wing off the drake he had just grounded and snapped its neck beneath the heel of his boot.

The other drake struggled after an onslaught of electricity, falling to the ground in a daze as Reno rushed toward it and drove his mag rod into the creature's throat, finally killing it.

It was then the two Turks noticed something they hadn't paid attention to the last time they were in the building. While the 68th floor was destroyed, the 67th floor still had some walls and doors – including one leading to Hojo's lab. The Turks had bypassed the 67th floor last time since the staircase ended one floor up back then.

They cautiously approached the door that led to the rooms and hallways that made up Hojo's vast section of the building. Even though years had passed, they both still prepared for Hojo's lab to be completely intact somehow.

It wasn't, thankfully, but there was a fair bit left. Many of the walls were gone, and the hallway was littered with medical supplies and equipment that seemed ready to fly out the holes in the side of the building. The Turks carefully made their way through the area, looking for anything they could take back to Rufus.

They eventually found themselves in one of Hojo's numerous experiment rooms. There were no walls or ceiling in the room, and the glass containment tubes were all shattered, the glass long since blown away by the biting wind that whipped through the floor. One of the larger glass cells that once held "specimen" was also shattered. The glass that remained appeared to have been wiped clean.

The Turks shielded their eyes from the wind and made their way toward a short staircase that led to Hojo's private elevator. The two continued to look around the area before slowly working their way to the elevator on the far wall. Reno looked up into the shaft before dropping his head.

"Not again," he moaned.

He slapped his hands together and rubbed them before jumping onto the elevator cable and climbing up to the 68th floor without looking back. After he made his ascent, he pushed himself off the back wall of the shaft to get the momentum to jump backwards and onto the 68th floor. He stood up and dusted himself off before turning around to find Rude standing right in front of him.

"What the…?"

"Took the stairs," Rude responded.

Reno glared at him a moment before brushing past him to look across the metal bridge that connected them to the center of The Drum, where Jenova was previously kept. The alien's former container was – to their horror – completely clean. It looked as though some kind of forensic clean-up crew had scrubbed the containment device spotless. There was not a trace, not even a speck of blood or tissue, left of the alien life form.

"Hojo must have cleaned house before he hijacked the Sister Ray," Reno hypothesized.

"Probably," Rude agreed.

Reno looked around at the inside of The Drum. He had never been inside before and had only heard rumors about the horrors that were kept in here. Hojo was a man who referred to his experiments as his "toys," and regularly pitted them against each other. Whatever won would be used to create even more horrific abominations. The Drum was where it all happened.

"There" Rude said matter-of-factly as he pointed across The Drum to a door on the other side. "If we can make it through that door, we should be able to get into the areas where he kept his notes."

Reno nodded and began to walk along the catwalk that would connect them to the door. They were halfway across when the metal beneath their feet began to shake. They ran as fast as they could to reach the other side, but Reno was just a foot away from being able to grab the remaining ledge before the floor fell out beneath them. The two Turks plunged to the bottom of The Drum, landing on a mess of rubble and metal but somehow not breaking anything. They were disoriented, but mostly unhurt except for some bruises and scrapes.

"Fuck," Reno said, rubbing his right wrist, the same one that always gave him trouble.

When the redhead gathered his bearings, he looked around, noticing for the first time that they were surrounded by what appeared to be hundreds of broken specimen pods. Even worse, those specimen were now surrounding them, slowly approaching and looking as though they hadn't seen anything of the outside world for years.

The two Turks slowly got to their feet and readied their weapons. An untold number of unknown entities attacked them, thankfully weak from their years spent in The Drum. The Turks slowly killed off the horde, hoping that was all the creatures still alive in Hojo's lab. Somehow, they knew they wouldn't be so lucky.

They climbed up the rubble to find the entrance to Ward 1. The metal door was open and damaged from various creature attacks. Reno and Rude cautiously walked through it and into one of Hojo's battle arenas. A pride of zenene that had been sleeping on the opposite side lifted their heads at the intruders and immediately stood up to start walking toward the two men. They, too, appeared weakened from a prolonged stay in The Drum without whatever care Hojo provided.

At that moment both Turks shuddered, suddenly aware that the creatures still alive in here had survived by killing and eating each other. Reno and Rude must have looked mighty tasty to them. It was not surprising, then, that the zenenes approached the Turks while licking their chops like the starved creatures they were. They were hungry but appeared confused when they looked at Reno.

"I think they think you're related," Rude muttered as the beasts continued to advance.

"Har har," Reno responded.

Hojo's experiments were combinations of many lifeforms to create new species. Surely the mad doctor had a vial or two of Reno lying around when he created some of these monsters. No, Reno shook his head, best not to go down that line of thought.

One of the fiends lunged at Reno, its teeth going straight for the top of his head. Reno struggled to get the beast off him and preserve his hair while Rude battled a few others. A few jabs with the mag rod and the zenene released Reno, dying a little too easily. The others fell quickly as well.

"Okay, that was a little too easy," the redhead said as they dusted themselves off. Rude nodded in response.

They looked up at Hojo's viewing area. The reinforced glass still held and there was nothing in this room to climb to get to it. The two Turks traveled down a connecting hallway and up a flight of stairs to find themselves back in The Drum. The two men groaned and looked at each other.

"Let's climb," Rude said, pointing to some debris that could provide a way up to the next level. They climbed what they could and crossed catwalks that were still intact. At least everything mechanical in The Drum was no longer operational.

The two marveled at some of Shinra's old technology. They stepped over a long, thin machine lying on its side with brightly colored plating and sharp blades attached to its front. The whole thing looked like a fish that could seriously fuck someone up.

Reno recalled how Hojo had once spoke about "The Ancient and her friends" nearly dying in The Drum. Reno suspected the man was lying, given the fact that AVALANCHE survived without looking too beaten down. Still, he now looked around and imagined what it must have been like for Tifa trying to navigate this place. He grunted in an attempt to dismiss the thought. He didn't want to start thinking about her – not again, not while he was in The Drum.

They came to a dead end in front of the door to Ward 3. With nowhere else to go, they entered, quickly finding more zenenes lying around. The creatures seemed even sicker than the last batch, falling with just the slightest offense. The Turks made their way into a room lined with crates and broken, empty cages.

Most of the crates that had filled up the space were destroyed - but not from anything to do with Meteor, it seemed - and whatever had been inside the cages was destroyed or gone. Possibly ransacked or – Reno shuddered – whatever was in it left on its own two, or four, or six, feet. Who knows what was in those crates? This was Hojo, after all.

Reno spun around when he heard a crash on the other side of the room. Rude was standing right next to him and turned to face the sound as well. They heard growling before they could see the pack of bloodhounds. The Turks remembered these creatures. Rufus' pet, Dark Star, was an enhanced version of them and they could never forget how much the vice president talked about her.

"Maybe we could bring one back for Rufus?" Rude suggested. Reno chuckled, moving his back against Rude's as the bloodhounds surrounded them.

"Great idea, which one?" he asked quietly before the first beast attacked.

These creatures put up more of a fight than the zenenes, but they looked just as sickly. It didn't just appear to be starvation, either. The bloodhounds had nasty looking lesions on their bodies – not from attacks – but from some kind of disease.

"What the hell happened in here?" Reno asked. Rude shook his head.

The two found themselves again back out into The Drum.

"Damn, this place was better reinforced than the rest of the building," Reno commented as he looked for a way out.

"Ward 4," Rude said, pointing toward yet another door. Reno groaned.

"There better be a way into Hojo's private stash from there," the redhead whined.

There wasn't much to Ward 4, just some large pipes and ladders. They made their way through and back to the main husk of The Drum. At least this time they were near Hojo's elevator that led to the executive suites above. The two climbed the cables up to the next floor to find more of Hojo's lab.

"Paydirt," Reno said.

They were out of The Drum, but there was little left in this area to be of any use to Rufus. They found some note books and papers with the chocobo scratchings of a raving lunatic, but not much else.

"Well, this was a bust," Reno said, defeated.

Rude checked his partner's work before agreeing. The two looked at each other and a wicked grin appeared on both their faces.

"Basement time?" Rude asked.

"Basement time," Reno responded.

Had they been in some cheesy spy comedy, they would have leapt into the air for a high-five while a trumpet played a jazzy tune.

The excitement they held for finally getting to see what kind of treasures were locked in the Shinra basement quickly dissipated as they climbed the elevator cables up to what was left of the executive floor and then climbed back down the massive headquarters building using the cables in the executive elevators. They slid down the cables as far as they could go and then battled their way back into the main stairwell. When they finally reached the first floor, they collapsed, still letting out exhausted utterances about their forthcoming basement adventure.

_Meanwhile…_

The children at the orphanage improved each day as Tifa led them through lessons. She didn't think she could adequately carry on Zangan's legacy, but she knew the children would be able to defend themselves from bullies, at least. She remembered how hard Master Zangan trained her, as if she were fighting for her life. Tifa didn't think the orphans needed to defend their _lives_ in Edge, though she hadn't thought that either when she was a kid in Nibelheim.

True to her word, Tifa refused to say anything to Marle about Cloud or the Turks. It was the first time in a long while she could remember having a 100% pleasant conversation. Marle let her know that Oates had been adopted by the family who came by the other day. Marle had explained that Oates had a good heart but was shy, yet he seemed to be totally at ease with the couple who came by that day. Seeing him open up endeared him to them, and they fell in love with him quickly. The young boy wouldn't leave for his new family until the end of the week while the paperwork was being settled, but it was clear he was excited to no longer be an orphan.

Tifa next traveled to the theater and was surprised to find Andrea Rhodea looking around. He hadn't aged a day since Meteorfall, though Tifa never knew how old he was anyway. He stood with his weight on one hip, one arm folded across his chest and his other elbow resting on his hand as he scanned the theater.

"So, this is where you've been hiding," he said when he first noticed her nearby.

"I wouldn't call it hiding," she responded. He chuckled in his own way, somehow sounding fake and sincere at the same time.

"I might have to come by once it gets closer to opening," he said, watching some carpenters carrying planks of wood for the stage floor. "Perhaps I could be your opening act to draw attention."

"I think that would be nice," Tifa said, smiling. She didn't feel like correcting him at that moment; she didn't own this theater, she was merely helping to build it.

"You seem troubled," he said next. Tifa was taken aback. She thought she had gotten a handle on her emotions. She even thought she was in a good mood today, though it had been a confusing few days since either of the Turks graced her bar. "If you ever need to let off steam, let me know. Jules will always make room for us."

"Thank you, Andrea," Tifa responded politely. "I may take you up on that soon."

"Good. And tell your man when he gets back that I wish to speak with him." Andrea turned dramatically and sauntered out of the building, leaving Tifa to stare after him looking dumbfounded.

Andrea knew Cloud left? Why would he say "when he gets back"? She didn't think Andrea could know something about Cloud she didn't, but even still, his words gave her some hope.

_Later…_

Tifa stood with her back against the wall of a nearby building as a massive flock of levrikons ran past her, hooting and hissing as they travelled. When she saw an opening, she kicked out her leg to bring one of the creatures to the ground. It rolled several times to the side, causing a few more of the birds to trip over it. Those that were able to avoid the scuffle kept running; survival dictated they not stay behind to help their kind.

Tifa grabbed one of the birds by its head as it thrashed its mighty back legs in an attempt to get back up. She quickly snapped its long neck as the three others grappled amongst themselves. She had been fighting the beasts for about 20 minutes, suddenly realizing just how much help the Turks had been over the past few months as the monster encounters increased exponentially within the city.

She was not happy about it. Relying on the Turks was not something she had ever expected she would have to do, but without Cloud around…

The Midgar Police Department was fully functioning, but they couldn't be counted on like the other members of AVALANCHE or the Turks. The police only really made a difference if a large number showed up to overwhelm the enemies. She hadn't seen any nearby but didn't discount the notion that they could be battling the creatures further into the city.

Tifa never expected to _miss_ the Turks, particularly that weaselly one.

As the other three birds were scrambling to get up, Tifa grabbed two of their necks and knocked their heads together. She didn't have time to fight fair, she had to kill as many as she could as quickly as she could. The third bird managed to get to its feet and tried to run away, but Tifa squatted down and swept a leg under its feet to bring it down to the pavement again, before crushing its neck beneath her foot.

The stampede was still coming, and Tifa had to dodge several more levrikons in what seemed like an endless horde. She reached out to kick another, but it ran straight into her leg and kept on going, dragging the young fighter several feet before she finally lost her balance and fell to the ground. Before she could get up, another one slammed into her, knocking her back to the ground and causing her head to spin. This time she was able to jump back up and reorient herself, bringing her waiting fists in front of her face as she returned to her battle stance.

She studied the beasts for a moment as they whizzed past her, dodging when necessary. She could see ahead that they were spreading out within the city, turning at every crossroad they came across. The police department must in trouble. She rushed between the birds to get back to the buildings and out of their path. One pecked at her as she crossed in front of it, opening a gash in her side just as she reached the side of a building.

A shadow suddenly darkened the street, traveling in the opposite direction of the beasts. Tifa, pressed against a building to avoid the birds, looked up to see what had just passed overhead. If she were about to be attacked from above, she would surely have to retreat. She was a prize fighter, but she was just one person, and the levrikons numbers were taking a lot out of her.

She could see, as she shielded her eyes from the sun that cast an ethereal light around the figure above her, a large red cape and a pair of legs falling toward her.

Vincent Valentine landed right in front of her and stood up to meet Tifa's stare. The birds seemed to sense something deep within him and immediately began running around him. He said nothing, just stared at Tifa through crimson eyes as his long black hair hung limply over his red headband. His face was partially obscured by the collar of his cape, but Tifa could tell his expression was empty. He was looking at her, but it was more like he was looking _through_ her. His gaze sent a chill down her spine. During the time they traveled together, Tifa never could get a read on the former Turk who had spent 30 years sleeping in a coffin beneath the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim. He rarely spoke and if he did, it was to address the group, not anyone in particular.

The only time he ever said anything that made her think there were feelings inside that skull of his was after Cloud disappeared from the Northern Crater. Tifa had suddenly found herself as the leader of AVALANCHE, and she spoke to everyone on board the Highwind for advice and support. She expected words of encouragement from everyone but Vincent, yet the raven-haired ex-Turk surprised her.

"...So glad you're all right Tifa," he said then, his voice sounding sincere.

Now he stood before her with not even a hint of emotion. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, and then he turned and opened fire on the flock. Tifa felt her energy level rise with the knowledge that she was no longer alone and leapt onto the back of one of the levrikons. She grabbed the beast by the neck as it bucked and turned it sharply into another bird before leaping off and landing gracefully with one knee bent and the other leg outstretched to the side, her fist steadying herself on the pavement. Her head shot up and she ran into the flock, jumping toward a bird with a flying kick.

Vincent fired his Death Penalty to take down the beasts from a distance, feeling his anger rise within him as some of the birds ran into him, forced to as the street wasn't wide enough for too many to run side-by-side. As Tifa bounced off buildings to dodge birds and deliver dizzying blows, Vincent's form began to change. In an instant he was transformed into the Chaos beast, with wings and claws and fangs. With an ear-splitting shriek, Chaos flew through the center of the stampede and in the same direction, taking out birds seemingly at random.

A few minutes later, the flock was running the opposite direction, out of the city. Tifa had finally witnessed the end of the line from where she stood, and now they were coming for her once again. She dodged and kicked her way out of the street to catch her breath as the remaining birds retreated from the city.

A moment later, Vincent was in front of her again, looking just as he had when he first landed. It was as if he hadn't just been in a battle and hadn't just flown through the sky as some kind of winged demon. He didn't seem to be out of breath or even aware that a fight had taken place. He didn't address or acknowledge her at first, his gaze watching the levrikons run out of the city. Behind them, a large squad of riot police officers chased the beasts, holding their shields up to protect themselves and electrocuting the birds with their nightsticks. For a moment Tifa was reminded of Reno, but she quickly blinked the thought away.

She hadn't seen Vincent in years. She hadn't seen any member of AVALANCHE since the last time Yuffie visited shortly after Cloud left. She didn't care that Vincent eschewed human contact, she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. Vincent did not reciprocate, but he didn't push her away, either. He grunted uncomfortably when she first embraced him, keeping his arms at his sides. It was the first human contact he had since Lucrecia more than 30 years ago.

Tifa released him and was again lost in his blood-red eyes, which were fixated on her; unmoving, unfeeling. She felt a little embarrassed that she had hugged him and he didn't respond since they were friends, but at least she could always count on the cold, emotionless response of Vincent Valentine.

"I need your help," he said after they stood in silence a few moments, sounding distant and withdrawn.


	10. Two Can Play This Game

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/24/2020: Additional scenes added throughout, including a more intense battle scene for the Turks.**

Chapter 10:

"It's good to see you again, Vincent," Tifa said warmly, trying to break the silence that had fallen over them after their fight with the levrikons. Vincent had followed her into the bar without saying a word, even though she tried to make small talk with him as they walked.

They were now standing in her kitchen, upstairs from the bar. Tifa leaned back on her counter, while Vincent leaned over the island and faced her, tapping his metal fingers on the granite. Tifa had tried taking deep breaths to remind him that she was in the room, but she knew from experience that Vincent spoke when Vincent decided to speak.

After an agonizingly long couple of minutes, Vincent finally straightened his back to look at her.

"Where's Cloud?" he asked.

Tifa's shoulders slumped and she groaned. Did he really travel all the way here for Cloud? She didn't want to have to explain the situation to another person. Each time she did, she died a little inside. As the months had dragged on, her claims that he was just out for supplies rang hollow, and she hadn't told any member of AVALANCHE except Yuffie. She was herself beginning to doubt he was ever coming back.

"He's not here. He's been gone for over four months. I haven't heard from him. I don't know where he is or where he was going," she decided to answer all of his questions before he could ask them.

Vincent's expression didn't change; he merely stared at her, hardly blinking. Either he wasn't listening, or he didn't care.

"I'd like you to come with me to the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim," he said after a long pause.

"Why?"

"I think there may be information there regarding the recent increase in monster attacks around the world," Vincent said. "I'd like to check the laboratory in the basement."

"Why do you need Cloud?"

"I was hoping you would both be able to help. I tried going myself, but there are too many fiends to go alone."

Tifa stared at him a moment. She didn't want to go back to Nibelheim; too many bad memories, too many _good_ memories with Cloud. She was shocked to learn Vincent would admit to being unable to handle a situation on his own, however.

"Can someone else go with you? I'm kind of busy here by myself," she said, crossing her arms and looking away from him as he stared at her intently.

"No one knows that town or mansion better than you and Cloud."

"Cloud," she corrected. "I didn't go down there until the day we found you."

As children, Tifa and her friends would often talk about going into the abandoned mansion, but they never truly followed through. Every once in a while, the boys that followed her everywhere would dare each other to climb the fence in order to impress her. Once, one managed to squeeze through the bars and after a quick victory dance, ran back through the bars upon hearing an unsettling noise coming from inside the mansion. Tifa never knew it at the time, but Cloud informed her during a happier time in their relationship that he had once traveled into the mansion as a child to impress her, though he never told her about it because he fell down the stairs and broke his arm running from a ghirofelgo.

"Tifa, please," Vincent almost pleaded.

Tifa could have sworn she heard a faint trace of desperation in his voice. While Nibelheim wasn't her ideal destination, she thought it might be good to get out of town for a while. She knew that Cloud would never go back there, so she wouldn't have to worry about running into him. And it might be a good way to clear her head, since she had been thinking about Reno _way_ too much the past few days. He still hadn't texted her again or shown his face in the bar. It was getting to the point where she was considering texting _him_ something snarky like "guess this text was meant for some other girl" or something equally as snippy. She had smacked herself in the head each time she considered sending such a message.

Reno's company may have been welcome at this point, but the feelings she had about him were not.

"I'll go," she said, looking Vincent squarely in the eye. Her eyes were determined, unnerved even. The bar would survive a few days without her.

"Good," Vincent replied. "Let's head out."

"On foot?"

"Yes?"

"In case you haven't noticed, the monster population is out of control. There's no way we'll make it by foot," she explained, now wondering how he got to Edge without transportation.

Vincent groaned ever so softly, the most emotion he had shown all day.

"Fine, why don't you call Cid and see if he can help."

Tifa kept her smile, remembering Vincent didn't have a phone and wasn't a sociable person anyway. Even if he had a phone, he'd probably use it less than Cloud used his. The barmaid pulled out her own PHS and dialed Cid's number from her contacts list.

"Hey darlin', stayin' outta trouble?" the pilot asked when he answered.

"Mostly," Tifa responded. "Hey Cid… could you do me a _huge_ favor?"

Silence. For several seconds. Then came Cid's heavy sigh.

"Whatcha need?" he asked.

"Would you be able to fly Vincent and I to Nibelheim so we can search through the mansion basement for information about what's happening with the monsters around the world?"

"_What_?"

"Can you fly Vincent and I to Nibelheim?"

"Fine, but this ain't some damned air taxi business," Cid huffed. "I'll swing by later, gotta get to the ship first, and there's so many Goddamn fiends circlin' her."

The pilot hung up before Tifa could respond.

"I'll guess he'll get here when he gets here," she informed Vincent, who merely blinked in response.

Having access to the airship again made something spark in Tifa's mind. Something she had wanted to avoid, too afraid of the consequences and implications. Cid's tone let her know that any additional request would not be welcome, but Tifa decided in that moment that she would have to ask anyway – when they were face to face. Cid might find it more difficult to say no if he could see Tifa's worried expression.

_Meanwhile…_

"Aaaaaaiiiiiigggghhhaaaaaackkk," Reno howled during an exaggerated stretch and yawn, his whole body aching after sleeping on the cold metal floor of the stairwell. He managed to get _some_ sleep in between the sounds of fiends pounding on the nearby exit door.

The monsters sensed fresh blood. The two Turks thought it'd be quieter a few floors up, and even though they were so damn sick of stairs, they started walking back up, only to find that fiends were knocking on every one of the lower few floors – and they were _not_ traveling any higher.

"Looks like we made our presence known," Reno had said the night before, sinking down onto the landing and trying to find a comfortable position. He eventually fell asleep even as his mind raced with thoughts of the horrors he had seen in The Drum – and imaginations of Tifa. Unbeknownst to the redhead, Rude was also struggling to sleep while thinking about how Tifa would answer his offer of a date.

The bald Turk, naturally, was already awake and eating breakfast when Reno awoke. The redhead wondered if his friend had even slept. Not that he could blame him if he hadn't, they weren't exactly staying in a luxury suite at the Gold Saucer. Reno rubbed his lower back as he sat up and reached for some food.

"It's basement day!" he said once he was finally awake and had some food in his belly. Rude let out a subtle smile.

"Basement day," he repeated.

With renewed energy, the duo entered the main lobby of the Shinra building to find the door that led to the basement. To their surprise, creatures not native to Midgar had taken up residence in the lobby, though they seemed to be trying to get out of the back of the building. There was no door there, however, so they were just clawing and pounding on the back wall of the car showroom. A few ark dragons spotted the pair of Turks and rushed over with a shriek, which alerted other monsters. It seemed like creatures that usually inhabited Midgar, the Mythril Mines, and all the way down to Mideel were in the Shinra building. The Turks had to kill crawlers, hippogriffs, and even a few zemzeletts just to get across the lobby to the door Rufus had told them led to the basement. T

he refugee camp that had once been set up in the Shinra lobby was nothing but tattered cloth and debris. The glass throughout the car showroom was shattered, and claw marks on the wall made unreadable Reno's years-old spray-painted sign instructing people to take shelter from Meteor in the slums.

Had they not been fighting their way through a sea of fiends, they would have examined what was left of their old office building. The central receptionist desk had been uprooted from the floor, crushed and laying in pieces scattered throughout the surrounding area. How many front-desk receptionists had Reno slept with? At one point he knew the number, but eventually lost track. It wasn't his fault Shinra kept hiring attractive women to be the first company face seen by visitors.

They finally crossed the showroom and found the door Rufus had described, which was nowhere near the door they had once tried to go through. What was behind _that_ door? A mystery for another day, perhaps. They opened the door to the basement to find… more stairs.

"I never wanted to see stairs again," Reno whined before they once again traveled down a couple flights to reach the massive metal door that blocked the entrance to all the basement secrets. The door required a physical key as well as the combination to an ancient mechanism to unlock that only a handful of top employees knew – most of whom were dead. Whatever Shinra kept down there, they didn't want to leave it vulnerable to a power failure.

At the base of the door lay two skeletons, their clothes disintegrating due to time. The Turks carefully stepped over the bodies to unlock the door and pull it open. It was heavy, but it rolled along the floor and into the wall. Thankfully for them, there didn't seem to be any fiends down here – at least not that they had seen yet.

Beyond what was essentially a vault door lay, to the Turks' dismay, boring white hallways that stretched to the left, right, and forward. Plain white doors dotted the walls on either side with simple gray plastic room numbers on the walls beside them.

Rufus had given them specific instructions on what turns to make and what door to enter. He was adamant that they enter only that one door. Reno, of course, tried to open the first door they passed. He held his hand over the knob and licked his lips in anticipation, his fingers twitching as he prepared to open it. He dreamed of an arsenal of weapons he couldn't even begin to imagine, or hell, maybe a room filled with gil that he could swim through. When he finally grabbed the doorknob, he was surprised to find several thousand volts of electricity coursing through his veins. His limbs tensed as he shook in place, his hair standing on end and blue sparks traveling along his skin, crackling as if to laugh at him. He was no stranger to electrocution, given his choice of weapon, but it had been a while.

His clothes were singed, and his mane became even wilder than before, now showing the effects of static electricity as he released the door and staggered backwards.

"Hmm," Rude said, doing a surprisingly good job of holding back laughter. "The generator must still be working. The key Rufus gave us must remove the electric shock."

"Thanks for the exposition, Brainiac," Reno sputtered as his face continued to twitch. He tried to push his hair back into place, but every time he touched it he made the static worse. Rude waited for Reno to turn his back so he could snap a couple pictures with his phone. While Reno's trademark scarlet spikes had lost their shape, spread out like a hair dome atop his head, his ponytail resembled the tail of a panicked house cat.

The redhead staggered and twitched down the hall for a few steps, like a toddler first learning how to walk, before he started to regain his composure. Rude stood behind, biting his fist.

"I'm going to say they 'Reno-proofed' the basement," Rude called after him.

"Here's the damn door," Reno said while walking his hands along the wall for support as he moved down the hallway, stopping outside a door with a sign that read, simply: "B0604."

Rufus had given Rude strict instructions not to give Reno access to the key, so the bald Turk reached into his pocket and retrieved the item. Rufus also said this particular key only opened Hojo's basement lab, and after seeing Reno continue to twitch from head to toe, Rude decided not to press his luck by sticking the key into any other door locks.

The first thing the Turks noticed when they entered was the smell. It was unlike the stench of the fiends in the main building; this was something different. Clearly, the monsters that had been kept down here were different from those above ground, probably species unheard of in the natural world – they were also probably dead and rotting or fully rotted by now.

Hojo's second lab was surprisingly well organized, unlike the more well-known lab in the old headquarters. There were numerous desks with medical and lab equipment on them and filing cabinets lining one whole wall. Along the back wall sat several cages and a few more of those glass holding cells, all completely unscathed – and dark. The room was longer than the Turks expected, and the lights that did still work were dim. The lights over the back wall were completely out, preventing the Turks from clearly seeing what was back there, and a few in the middle of the room flickered with a low humming sound. There were also doors placed in seemingly random spaces along the wall, no doubt leading to a maze of experiment rooms and arenas just like upstairs. Reno wasn't about to touch _those_ door knobs, either.

As soon as Rude took a step toward the filing cabinets, the two turned abruptly to the back of the room, having heard a loud "stomp" coming from one of the holding cells. The duo looked at each other for a few moments before continuing toward the cabinets, listening for the sound again. Whatever made it remained quiet, for now.

"Well, time to get filing," Reno said, more cheerfully than Rude expected. The redhead stretched his arms in front of him and laced his fingers together, cracking them.

Rude nodded his head and the two started rifling through cabinets for any files that may assist Rufus. Glancing down the long role of filing cabinets, each with four drawers, Reno knew they were going to be here for a while.

He hadn't expected to be gone so long. He texted Tifa shortly before they left to prepare for this excursion. He had kind of hoped she would text back, even though he knew that was a long shot and would be crossing a line as far as his friendship with Rude. But they were just starting to go through the records in Hojo's secret lab. Who knew how many files would be relevant? They could be here a couple more days just going through the files. After all, it took Sephiroth nearly a week to go through Hojo's notes and the books in the basement of the Shinra manor. And depending on how much they found, they may need to make numerous lengthy trips to and from the car to transport it all. On top of all of that, he hadn't gotten to see what else was in the basement, rendering his enthusiasm for the mission null and void.

He wondered if Tifa missed him in his absence; he wondered if she missed Rude. He had certainly left her with something to think about. He tried again in vain to push her from his mind, as Rude was the one with the hopeless crush. Reno merely wanted to fuck her, he kept telling himself, and he could imagine her naked whenever he wanted.

He learned quickly that he would need to take frequent breaks to bust up the monotony of looking through Hojo's research. A pile of files and documents was started near the door, and it was beginning to get daunting. It seemed all Hojo studied was Jenova, and without the scientific background to decipher what was germane or not, the two Turks thought it best to just take anything even remotely related to the alien, the experiments Hojo conducted with its cells, and the Lifestream.

As they searched, an ever-present threat yet occasional pounding would resound from the back of the room. The Turks got used to the thumping, knowing that as long as they heard the same sound over and over again, whatever was causing it was contained. When they wouldn't hear it for a few hours, they'd get nervous, preparing to fight whatever was making the noise.

The noise became comforting after a while. It reminded them they were still in the basement and were not alone, but it broke up the long periods of reading and searching. They gave the sound a name, "Chester," and started giving it a backstory as they worked in an effort to stave off the crushing boredom breathing down their necks.

Chester, they decided, had once been a free roaming monster until Hojo's scientists captured it and began their experiments. Too hideous yet weak to be of use, he was left forgotten in the basement as Hojo moved on to other "toys." For all they knew, Hojo could have been here for years, before the Nibelheim incident.

Based on what Tseng and one of the rehired Turks – Shotgun, Reno called her since he couldn't remember her real name – had said of Nibelheim, Chester could very well have been salvaged from the Shinra manor. Reno and Rude had been elsewhere during the cleanup of Nibelheim, so only heard stories secondhand. The fire, the murders, Hojo ordering subordinates to salvage what they could – stretchers and equipment being carried _into_ the manor as the town was evacuated. Reno knew the story by now, having read numerous documents about the incident, but he imagined no one knew the full story given Shinra's coverup.

As they searched, the Turks faced an imminent problem: The intense smell emanating from the back of the room, which became more unbearable with each step they took toward the creature's cell.

Chester roared again. It was an unearthly shriek that rang in their ears for several seconds after, sounding almost like an unpleasant piano chord that echoed through the room.

"Oh, Chester," Reno said, shaking his head as he opened up another drawer after the ringing stopped.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed since they entered the basement lab. They took breaks to eat and explore the rest of the lab (the other wall had tables lined with small containers of various specimens) and of course to sleep when they were tired. If their sleep habits were in line with the surface time, they had been in the basement two days. At least they were nearing the last few cabinets.

Reno had done most of the exploring of the rest of the room, finding the files less than thrilling. He read the labels on every vial and specimen container, interested yet fearful of what he would find. He found several vials labeled "S-TYPE" and a few labeled "G-TYPE," along with one that said "GENESIS" on it. He didn't recognize the creatures in the smaller specimen containers that sat on the desk. They must have been dead fetus' preserved with formaldehyde, but of what, Reno couldn't tell, though at least one looked somewhat human. A shiver ran down his spine as he placed the canister back on the table and returned to the filing cabinets. Maybe the files weren't so bad after all.

Chester's growls and thrashings were more agitated and frequent as the Turks approached the final few filing cabinets, which were nearest to the darkened part of the lab. Reno knew he saw movement in the back of the room a few times when Chester thumped, but he couldn't determine what shape the creature was or even how big. Neither he nor Rude attempted to go into the shadowy area where Chester certainly lurked, worrying their proximity would cause him to go insane and possibly escape.

The pile of documents near the front of the door sat in multiple stacks, each several feet high. It would take a while to get it all into the back of Reno's car, and he dreaded the trips and monster attacks that would surely occur in between. He really just wanted to get the information delivered to Rufus so that _he_ could sift through it all. Reno wanted to get the hell out of here and away from Chester. It was better to think of the beast as some restrained animal from a distance than to learn what it was up close and personal. From the sound of it, Chester seemed like he was capable of doing some serious damage if unleashed.

Rude opened the first drawer on the last filing cabinet, with Reno looking over his shoulder. By now they both had their dress shirts pulled up over their noses to try to mitigate some of the stench, though Reno occasionally had to remove his so he could smoke. For once, Rude didn't mind the smell of the tobacco, since it somewhat mitigated the smell of death. Chester's jerking became more erratic than ever as the two Turks approached, however. Rude knew they didn't have much time left before the beast was thoroughly pissed off.

He was right. As if Chester had been waiting for his moment, he broke through the glass of his containment cell as soon as Rude closed the last drawer. They heard the crash of the glass, but then nothing for a moment. They froze, hoping whatever Chester was would only respond if they were moving. They soon heard what sounded like something wet and muscly scraping over the crushed glass. There were no footsteps, yet the glass shards tinkled and cracked beneath whatever moved atop them. It was as if something solid were being rolled over them at an even pace.

No beast came barreling toward them, as they expected. They gripped the last of the files for Rufus to their chests as they gingerly backed toward the door.

They hadn't gone far when a form stepped – or rather, scuttled? Hovered? Slithered? – out of the darkness and rose to loom over them. Even now, the creature couldn't adjust to its full height, as the ceiling was too low. Both Turks' jaws dropped open (Reno lost his cigarette, not even noticing that it burned his leg through one of the tears in his pants) as they looked at the lifeform before them.

It looked like one of the Jenova monsters, but it was mixed with other creatures. Its shoulders spread out into wide, asymmetric growths with seemingly random horns jutting out in several places. Its waist was narrow, its lower body wide and cone shaped, with hardened growths and tumors rising up from its base. Its head was long and narrow, coming to a small point in front of its own waist. It had a long face with two large fangs hanging out of its mouth, and the Turks could see it had small, sharp teeth that stretched far back into its head. Its eyes didn't blink and were narrowed down on the duo. It hissed and growled as drool fell from its mouth onto the floor. Small puffs of smoke rose out of the drops left behind, and the Turks continued to back away.

Several large tentacles unwrapped from its back and reached out toward the two men, its teeth snapping as it closed the space between them.

"…Chester?" Reno asked, as if he had just found out his puppy was rabid.

Chester let out an earth-shattering roar and Reno reached for his weapons while Rude readied his fists. Reno delivered the first blow with his EMR but was quickly swatted away by a tentacle. Rude threw a couple strong punches before his hands were disabled by two other tentacles. Chester pulled the bald-headed Turk toward him, bringing fangs within inches of Rude's face as he fought against his restraints. The more stoic Turk could feel hot spit on his skin that burned to the touch, and he winced. Chester cried out in pain as Reno drove his EMR into the creature's side while firing his pistol.

"Run!" the fire-haired Turk yelled.

If there was one advantage the duo had over Chester, it was speed. The Jenova mutant could only slide across the floor, using its tentacles to lash out at the Turks as they ran for the door. They had _planned_ on running out the door and living to fight another day, but the sight of the document pile stopped them in their tracks.

"Shit!" Reno said as he cut left to keep Chester from trashing Hojo's research.

Rude hung back a second to get behind the creature. This was not what they were used to fighting. These types of monsters were better left to AVALANCHE. At least if one of them died, Rude wouldn't feel shame – unless it was Tifa, of course. But it was just him and Reno now, and he didn't like their odds.

As Reno kited Chester around the front of the lab and away from the stack of papers, he grabbed every container he could along the opposite wall to throw at the thing. Canisters containing fiend and animal remains, beakers with unknown liquids, even staplers became projectiles as he ran. At least one of the beakers seemed to slow Chester down, but not for long.

Reno was approaching the dark end of the lab when Chester stopped and let out one of its ear-splitting screeches. Reno instinctively closed his eyes tight and held his hands over his ears to muffle the sound. When he opened his eyes, he saw tall, fat tentacles all over the room, rising from the floor. He didn't know how, but they were somehow all part of Chester. He tried to dodge between them but was grabbed by one, which wrapped around his chest and midsection and began to constrict Reno like he was a mouse caught in a snake's coil.

The redhead struggled against the beast as it became harder to breathe. He shifted the handle of his mag rod in his hand so that the weapon was pointing backwards toward the base of the tentacle that held him. Just as he began to feel lightheaded, he flicked his EMR on and shocked the tentacle, causing it to drop him to the ground. He dropped to a kneeling position and had only a second to catch his breath before two more tentacles reached out to smack him.

He looked around. More tentacles had sprung up and he couldn't even see Rude. Reno beat back tentacles with his mag rod while firing his pistol at others, trying to get away from Chester as it continued to advance.

Rude was fighting tentacles in the front of the room and getting nowhere as Chester stayed focused on Reno. Rude punched one tentacle multiple times and shot out his foot to kick another, but it wrapped around his ankle and threw him into the nearby wall. The bald Turk got up quickly, too quickly, and hit his head on something attached to the front wall of the lab, near the door. He stepped back to see what he had hit and for the first time paid attention to what it was. He'd glanced past it before as they were in the room, assuming it was just another fire extinguisher. Now, however, he noticed that above a cluttered desk, on the wall, was a glass container with a label on the front that read: "IN CASE OF BREAKOUT BREAK GLASS." Rude did as the label suggested, sending his foot through the glass while dodging another of Chester's tentacles, and removed a spiffy, unused, military-grade weapon.

"Thank you, Scarlet," Rude said to himself, patting the weapon gently. He flicked a switch to power up the massive gun he held in his hands. "Reno, get back here!"

Reno glanced over at his partner to see the mako-charged firearm drawing power. Tiny lights appeared to be getting sucked into the end of the barrel as a high-pitched squeal hummed it to life. The sound caught Chester's attention, and it turned its attention toward Rude.

Reno used the distraction to weave through the remaining tentacles. A pair reached for him and he slid beneath them on the tiled floor, one leg stretched out in front and the other bent beneath him. He jumped over the next tentacle that tried to grab him, twisted out of another's grasp, and finally caught up to his partner before Chester. Rude pulled the trigger once his sharp-tongued friend was at his side.

"Yeah! Kick it!" Reno shouted as the gun fired, leaving a smoldering hole right through Chester's middle.

The creature's upper body slumped backwards as foul-smelling smoke rose into the ceiling. The tentacles around the room immediately stopped moving and fell before they and Chester returned to the Lifestream in a large cloud of pyreflies. There was a ringing sound in the Turks' ears after the gun was fired, and they were certain by now that they had lost at least some of their hearing due to this mission.

Rude turned to his comrade to see the redhead trying to shout something, but all he saw was his lips moving. Rude pointed a finger at his ear and shook his head to indicate he couldn't hear anything. Reno started pointing at the documents and motioning with his hands as if he were carrying stacks of papers. Rude understood.

They each grabbed what they could carry of the information they had gathered and left the basement lab. Once outside in the hallway, they both dropped what they were carrying and gasped for air, realizing just how much they missed the smell of… well, nothing. The Shinra basement was stuffy with stale air, but it was far more preferable than what they had just been subjected to in Hojo's lab. Their hearing still muffled, the two picked up the documents and continued out of the basement.

They had nearly forgotten what they were in for when they opened the door to the old Shinra lobby. There were no fewer fiends this time around than the last time, and with their hands full, they didn't have much choice but to run with the occasional kick to keep a monster away. They ran into the side stairwell for a reprieve before heading outside to face whatever was lingering out there.

They were bloodied and bruised from their battle with Chester, but the adrenaline and desire to get the hell out of there carried them this far. Now that they weren't in immediate danger, they each noticed the other was in bad shape. Rude had lost his sunglasses – a sure sign something had gone wrong – and hadn't even grabbed a new pair from his jacket yet. He favored one leg and had small burn marks all over his face from Chester's spittle. Reno wasn't much better. One of his shoulders sat awkwardly, causing him to balance the drawer of documents in his other arm. It wasn't visible, but now that the adrenaline was gone he could feel a searing pain in his ribs.

Reno called Elena and Tseng once they had the first batch of papers into his car and his hearing returned - somewhat. There was no way they were going to make the trek back to the basement 10 more times, alone. A couple extra hands would be helpful now. They didn't have to let the other Turks into the basement (and they knew not to ask questions) but they were exhausted and wanted to get away from the decaying corpse of Chester.

"What happened to you two?" Elena asked when she saw her friends quickly staggering toward her, each carrying a large metal drawer full of files.

"Don't ask," Rude said as he handed her the drawer and turned to head back into the building. The blonde Turk cast a Cure spell on each of them to help them finish their mission. She and Tseng then fought the monsters as Reno and Rude made the lengthy trips to and from the basement.

"Rufus wanted to see you," Tseng told Reno and Rude as he loaded the last of the files into the backseat of his even more luxurious car. Reno had the RS-97. Tseng had the RS-100a with all the bells and whistles. But then, he was the leader of the Turks. "But before that, I'm having Elena take you to our new medical ward to get checked out and stay for observation. Who knows what you could have come into contact with in Hojo's lab."

Reno and Rude narrowed their eyes at Tseng and opened their mouths to say something. Rude couldn't find the words, but as always, Reno did.

"Is this payback for when we took care of you after the Temple?" he asked. It was two years ago, but they really had coddled Tseng against his will to make sure he would survive.

The corners of their boss' lips twitched upward.

Rude nodded in acknowledgement as he watched his boss drive away with a car full of documents. Elena then approached the drivers-side door of Reno's car and grinned mischievously.

"Look who has to rescue you two numskulls _again_," she said, clearly enjoying the orders Tseng gave her. The two other Turks groaned loudly.

"We'll be out of that sick bay faster than you can get out of the room, so I'd watch the attitude," Reno said in a teasing tone. Elena laughed nervously. Reno and Rude were not above pranking her.

The three Turks got into Reno's car – the redhead sat up front even though Rude was taller.

"Oh my Gods, you guys _stink!_" Elena complained as soon as the doors were closed.

"How do you know it's us and not you?" Reno snapped, wondering if the smell would linger in his car forever.

"Fuck you," Elena mumbled, unable to think of a better comeback. Reno smiled triumphantly and rested his hands behind his head.

Shinra's new infirmary was much more pleasant than the one in the old building, mainly because Hojo wasn't running it. There were plenty of doctors in the old sick bay, but Hojo had taken control at some point, meaning anyone who entered was subject to possible experimentation. The Turks learned to take care of their own injuries to avoid falling into Hojo's clutches.

The new infirmary didn't include any experimentation, but that didn't mean the Turks were any happier to be there. Reno had told Rude they would go to Seventh Heaven when they were done with the mission, and that's where he wanted to be right now. Instead, they were stripped and wearing flimsy hospital gowns while Shinra doctors poked and prodded them. At least the stench of Chester was gone. Neither wanted to enter Tifa's bar smelling like a death swamp.

The first thing Reno had done after getting clear of the old building was check his phone. Not a single text from her. That's what he expected, but something nagged at him; his chest felt heavy and hollow. Probably just another injury from Chester.

Rude, too, had wanted to go to Seventh Heaven. After the ordeal they had just gone through, seeing Tifa's pretty face was exactly what he wanted to lift his spirits, even if it meant she answered his date proposal in the negative. Alcohol and the woman of his dreams sounded pretty good right about now. He also thought she'd get a kick out of the pictures he had taken of an electrocuted Reno.

"Yeah, Tseng is definitely punishing us for the Temple," Rude said as he leaned back against the bed he was on. He had ointment on his face for the burns and his leg was propped up in a sling. Reno lay on a bed on the other side of the room, his arm in a sling and bandages around his chest underneath his hospital gown.

In the morning, tests came back negative for any unknown diseases, as expected. Rude's leg was still sore, but he could walk on it and promised to "take it easy" in order to get discharged. Reno's shoulder had been popped back into place, so he just needed some painkillers to get him through recovery. His cracked rib, however, slowed him down somewhat, though he was determined to get out of the sick bay with his partner.

The president of Shinra met them in the waiting room as soon as they arrived mid-morning. He seemed hurried and agitated.

"Come in," he said, quickly ushering Reno and Rude into his office.

He walked past them to stand behind his desk, as the sun's light illuminated his office in a foggy gray glow. It was one of those rare days where even though the clouds shrouded the sun in a gauzy haze, the gray sky was bright enough to require sunglasses.

"I've gotten word that some members of AVALANCHE are looking for the same information we are – in the Nibelheim mansion," Rufus said in a haughty tone. He leaned over his desk, supporting himself on his knuckles, and narrowed his eyes to shift his gaze from Reno to Rude. "Now, I know you have become friendly with some of them, but for the sake of your employer – and your employment – you can't let those sewer rats get their hands on anything useful."

Reno was surprised at Rufus' spiteful words. Rufus had previously mentioned wanting to atone for the sins of Shinra's past, so hating AVALANCHE didn't seem prudent. He must have known that members of AVALANCHE were helping to cull the monster herds around the world. Why was he so irritated?

"Boss?" Reno asked, tentatively.

"Shinra has to be the ones to solve this problem, not AVALANCHE," Rufus spewed. "We can't let them get the glory of saving the world again."

Rude nodded and stood up to leave.

"Do you know who's there?" Reno asked before heading out the door.

Rufus had settled back into his desk chair and taken out one of Hojo's files to flip through.

"The vampire and the barmaid," he said without looking up from his work.


	11. On The Other Side Of The Mountain

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. If you do not like sex scenes, please skip them. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 6/27/2020: The scene with Cloud and Tifa has more smut. Also, there's an entirely new ending to this chapter. Nibelheim scenes have been moved to the next chapter.**

Chapter 11:

_Flashback…_

"What are you going to do, Tifa?"

The brunette fighter turned to face Cloud on the bridge of the Highwind. She had been looking out the front window after everyone else left, her heart torn as she remembered she was all alone in the world except for AVALANCHE. She had no family, no other friends to return to – they had all been killed by Shinra.

"Did you forget?" she asked the blond swordsman, who looked at her with sympathetic but woeful eyes. "I'm… all alone. I don't have anywhere to go."

Cloud took a step toward her and nodded. Without saying a word, he reached out to take her hand, which she tepidly accepted. He led her out of the Highwind and onto the deck, to the rope ladder that hung over the railing, and motioned for her to climb down. Tifa dutifully complied, unsure where Cloud was taking her. It didn't matter, she had followed him this far; she would follow him anywhere. God, she was a sap.

She hopped down from the last rung of the ladder and started walking away from the airship. They were on a field on the Eastern Continent. The nearest town was hundreds of miles away. There were no people, no roads, no _anything_ around. Tifa felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness creep up on her for a moment. It smothered the air around her like a thick fog, leaving her lungs feeling heavy. All around the ground looked like death; sand and rocks stretched for miles, with very little elevation save a small mound where they now stood as the Highwind hovered above. Patches of grass tried to survive, scattered along the plains, failing to root and unable to sustain any life.

She heard Cloud's footsteps behind her and at once the fog seemed to dissipate.

"Everyone's gone…" she said without turning around.

"Yeah, we don't have anywhere or anyone to go home to," Cloud responded, the weight of his words obvious between them.

Tifa couldn't see him, but he was standing a few feet behind her on a rocky outcrop. He was staring off into the distance, thinking about his own singular existence. Tifa lowered her head.

"You're right…" she raised her head again and brushed her hair behind her ear. "But… I'm sure someday… they'll come back, don't you think?"

Cloud folded his arms across his chest and brought one hand to rest on his chin.

"Hmm… I wonder…" his gaze fell to the ground and he shook his head. "Everyone has an irreplaceable something they're holding on to…" Cloud quickly changed topic, "but this time, our opponent…"

An uncomfortable silence fell between them, neither moving. Tifa still had her back to Cloud, so he didn't see her swallow at the mention of their "opponent." Sephiroth had already caused so much grief in her young life. Twenty years old, and one man had destroyed her town, killed her father, scarred her for life, killed her best friend, and had summoned a meteor to destroy the planet. To say she was scared was an understatement. She was terrified, but determined to turn her fear and rage into something useful.

She nodded her head and looked across the plains. The sky was a murky golden color as the sun set behind them, leaving the sky above a velvety navy blue. A few white clouds dotted the scene, but neither Cloud nor Tifa were paying attention.

"Hmm… But that's all right, if no one comes back," she said. She paused for a moment, nervous to continue. "As long as I'm with you… As long as you're by my side… I won't give up even if I'm scared."

There it was. It was the closest she had ever come to expressing her feelings for him. Her heart beat loudly as she waited to see how he would respond. Would he agree with her? Shut her down? Say nothing?

Cloud dropped his hands to his sides and shifted to look at her back.

"…Tifa…"

She was in it now, might as well keep going. Tifa reached her left arm behind her back to grip her right elbow. She took a deep breath.

"No matter how close we are… We were far apart… before this," she said. "But when we were in the Lifestream surrounded by all those screams of anguish, I thought I heard your voice…"

She released her arm and slumped her shoulders, lowering her head and closing her eyes. A soft smile graced her lips even as she remembered the horrors she had experienced in Mideel. Inside the Lifestream, she could see everyone she had known who had died, all seemingly trapped in their final moments. Her father was holding his hands up in a weak defense, his eyes wide with the fearful anticipation of Sephiroth's sword. It was like he was frozen in time, forever forced to live out that exact moment. It was the same for Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Tifa's eyes began to tear up and she choked back a sob.

"You probably don't remember this…" she said, her eyes still closed as she fought back the tears. "But deep in my heart I heard you calling my name… Or at least I thought I did…"

This might be her only chance to tell Cloud how she felt before her death. She was just going to be honest and say what was in her heart. Of course, that was easier said than done, as her words seemed to be tiptoeing around what she really wanted to say.

Cloud's eyes were still fixated on her back as she spoke. When she trailed off the last time, he turned away from her again. He hadn't wanted to remember his time in the Lifestream, or what was going through his head when he was suffering from Mako poisoning. He brought his fist to rest on his forehead, supporting his elbow with his other hand.

"Yeah… At that time, I heard you calling me," he said, thinking back. "You were calling me back from the stream of consciousness in the Lifestream."

He again let his arms fall to his sides. His eyes focused on a point far away from either of them, his expression one of resolve.

"After all, I promised," he continued. "That if anything were to ever happen to you, I would come to help."

Tifa opened her eyes again and looked straight forward again.

"Cloud…? Do you think the stars can hear us?" she asked. She bent her knee to reposition her body so that she was looking slightly to her left, talking to Cloud over her shoulder. "Do you think they see how hard we're fighting for them?"

Cloud leaned back to look up at the darkening sky.

"I dunno… But… Whether they are or not, we still have to do what we can. And believe in ourselves…" he said, moving his gaze back to that focal point in the distance. "Someday we'll find the answer. Right, Tifa?"

She didn't respond. She didn't know the answer. She thought she had been searching for some kind of answers her entire life and she still hadn't found them.

"That's what I learned from you when I was in the Lifestream," Cloud concluded, keeping his eyes on the back of Tifa's head, hoping she would turn around to give him a sign that she understood. He needed her particular brand of comfort.

He learned that from her? Tifa was surprised how much she had gotten through to him. She nodded her head again and flattened her lips, determined to remain strong for him.

"Yeah… that's right…" she said.

It wasn't exactly what Cloud hoped she would say. He once again turned away from her, feeling his own heart beginning to beat faster than usual. What was this? He hadn't felt this way since Aerith had been alive, or when he was a kid with a crush on Tifa. He, too, realized this might be his only chance to tell her what had been on his mind all these years. He sensed her in his consciousness in the Lifestream, sensed that she had learned his deepest childhood secret, but he couldn't be sure that wasn't all just some dream.

"Hey Tifa… I…" he stammered, turning his attention to his feet and burying his hands in his pockets. "There are a lot of things I wanted to talk to you about."

He shook his head slowly. There was so much he wanted to tell her. Years of pent up emotions and secrets – both painful and embarrassing. The kind of secrets one would write in a diary without any intention for another's eyes to see. Feelings locked deep inside one's heart.

"But now that we're together like this, I don't know what I really wanted to say…"

Curse his nerves. "I guess nothing's changed at all… Kind of makes you want to laugh…"

He had grown up, but apparently not when it came to romance. He had stammered through their "date" – if you could call it that – at the Gold Saucer all those months ago and had struggled to respond to Tifa or Aerith's flirtations throughout their adventures. He was so thick-headed he didn't even pick up on most of them.

He let out a few "hehs" to lighten the mood, so terrified that Tifa would reject him.

Instead, she shook her head – which wasn't a good sign, he thought – before lifting her shoulders and taking a slow, deep breath. This was it. Whatever she said next would be the defining moment of their relationship, Cloud thought. He couldn't bring himself to look at her for fear that his nervousness would make him look weak.

"Cloud… Words aren't the only thing that tell people what you're thinking…" she said after a pause.

When Cloud didn't immediately respond, Tifa ran her fingers through her hair anxiously. She then heard his footsteps shifting on the ground behind her and she felt his eyes on her back. She didn't know how he would take that. Would he take some kind of action? If so, what? She continued to stare forward, so afraid that if she turned around he would be gone, or looking at her like she was crazy. She had put it out there, inviting him to show her how he really felt. Waiting for his response was now agonizing as each second passed.

She could feel her heart beating in her chest, echoing across the plains to tell everyone of her deepest feelings. His silence was its own response. She lowered her head and tried to smile to herself. At least she had her answer. She could fight Sephiroth knowing that even if she were to die, she tried. She nodded slightly to herself, trying to accept that she had done the right thing and that Cloud simply didn't share her feelings. It was closure, at least, but she could already feel hot tears forming in the corners of her eyes, threatening to slide down her cheeks and reveal her broken heart.

Just as one made its way down the soft skin of her face, she felt two gloved hands on her arms. A shiver ran down her spine. She wiped the tear away as he turned her to face him, his head cocked to one side. He was smiling at her, but his eyes were heavy with sorrow when he saw that she was crying. He placed a hand on the side of her face and wiped away another tear with his thumb.

She let out a short laugh to mask her sob. She thought he was just going to walk away, but here he was, holding her, easing her fears. It all became funny to her, how she had worked herself into a mess thinking she had been rejected instead of giving him just a few seconds to respond. They had been sidestepping their feelings for one another for nearly a decade, couldn't she have waited just one more minute?

His eyes brightened when she laughed. He so wanted to see her smile. He knew that when she had that faraway look in her eyes, she was thinking about all the pain she had experienced in her life. He had always wanted to comfort her, but he had been lost in his own psychosis and grief that he didn't even know how. He couldn't help himself; how could he help someone else?

He wished he could say something to ease her pain, but her last words stuck in his mind. He had to _show_ her how he felt about her. He thought words were hard to come by, but now he found himself trembling as he convinced himself to do what he had wanted to do since he was a teenager.

Cloud moved the hand that was already cupping the side of Tifa's face to bring his index finger under her chin. Her eyes looked up at him graciously, expectantly, nervously, her irises seeming to quiver as she searched his face for confirmation about what was to happen. Cloud's index finger raised her chin as he lowered his lips to hers.

Twenty years. Twenty years she had been the girl next door, and this was their first kiss.

Tifa felt heat spreading throughout her body, pooling in her chest and lower abdomen. Cloud kept one hand on the side of her neck and lowered his other to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him to deepen the kiss. At first she was too stunned to move, but she soon opened her mouth to let his wandering tongue inside. She wrapped her arms around his strong, muscular shoulders and closed her eyes. The last time they were like this was in Aerith's garden, but his tight grip and armor hurt her and she had to pull away, even though she wanted the moment to last. This time, however, Cloud had figured out his own strength.

This was really happening. Cloud Strife was really kissing her, really holding her, really pressing his hips into hers. His hand moved to the back of her head for support, and he gripped her hair as his breathing increased. They stayed like that for some time, each one exploring the other's mouth with their own tongue, struggling through nerves, anticipation, and feelings of inadequacy.

Tifa was shy and inexperienced. She had been kissed before, by her childhood friend Johnny, but she hadn't engaged in any sexual activity – at least not willingly. Spending five years in the slums of Midgar as a nubile teenager had been harsh, but she had escaped relatively unscathed.

Cloud was thinking of his own naivety when it came to sex. He had been an awkward teenager with eyes for only Tifa when he left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER, and his Shinra training left him little time to meet women outside of work. And then the whole Nibelheim incident… He had been too busy chasing Sephiroth to do anything else after that, and now he felt his heart sinking at the realization. He had his dream girl in his arms, and he wasn't sure he would be able to satisfy her. He was no prude, to be sure, he had seen movies and read magazines, so it's not like he didn't know what to do. But watching and doing were two very different things. He started to wonder if Tifa would notice his greenness. _Then_ he wondered if Tifa had been with any other man. He hadn't seen her in five years – any number of things could have happened to her in that time.

No, _his_ Tifa was still the same young girl he had left in Nibelheim all those years ago.

He decided that he would do what he had seen in the movies and what he imagined during late nights at the barracks when he would think of her. He continued to kiss her, with all the passion of a hormonal teenage boy, and let his hands roam her back, settling on her rear end. She moaned when he squeezed her flesh, his hands still outside her clothing. He lingered there for a moment, his boyhood thoughts overwhelming his mind.

She was so soft, so warm, so fit – the perfect woman. And now she was his. He slid his hands to her stomach and unhooked her suspenders, then moved up her sides to the hem of her tank top and started to lift. He felt her tense up and knew – or thought he knew – what it was about. He was about to see those perfect breasts of hers, and no one else had. He was in uncharted territory, and grinned as he thought about all the other men who had flirted with Tifa and who would kill to be in his position right now. She let him remove her shirt but quickly crossed her arms to cover herself.

He stepped back, eager to see what no other man had seen. He licked his lower lip, excited by her display of coyness. She held her arms against her chest tighter as his eyes roamed. She had never seen him look at her that way, he was so… primal. She knew she had nothing to be nervous about in that department, but she also feared letting any man see her like this. Sephiroth's scar never properly healed, leaving her with a disfiguring gash between her breasts. The ends of the scar stretched up to her left shoulder and beneath her right breast. It was always in the back of her mind. Whenever someone would flirt with her – especially when she thought Cloud was flirting with her – she would feel pretty, but the memory of that scar loomed heavy in her subconscious.

What would Cloud think when he saw it? _Would he be disgusted?_ She had worked so hard to make the rest of her body lean and toned – perfect – but that scar was always there, just beneath her clothes, threatening to ruin the moment for anyone who might want to see her breasts.

Cloud reached forward; his knees weak as he tried to get Tifa to remove her arms from covering her chest. She closed her eyes and shook her head, looking distressed.

"Tifa, it's okay," Cloud cooed softly. Tifa was breathing harder and trembling, but she let him take her arms. His hands grazed the length of her arms before taking each of her hands in his, spreading them so he could look at her chest, still hiding behind her bra.

Cloud exhaled with a whistle of approval, which helped Tifa relax – at least a little. He traced the line of her scar with his finger but did not appear turned off by her appearance. It had startled him a little, but he didn't show it. It wasn't that the scar was ugly or that it detracted from her loveliness, it was that it made him remember that day in Nibelheim; the day he was too late to save her from Sephiroth's blade. The first time he broke his promise to her. Looking at it now, he couldn't help but be reminded of his failures, and it showed on his face. Tifa, however, thought that it was her scar that had sunken his features.

"What's wrong?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

Cloud realized what she must have thought and stared deep into her eyes.

"I was thinking about how I failed you in Nibelheim, and about how I never want to do that again," he said, his hands rubbing her shoulders.

Tifa smiled weakly and nodded. She would not let this stop her. Not now, not when she was enjoying how Cloud was looking at her.

"You won't," she said.

Cloud again embraced her, his hands roving along her back before gravitating to her bra clasp. He fiddled with it for a moment before it was unhooked. She didn't see the look of achievement on his face as he held her close, proud of himself for getting it unhooked so quickly. Her breasts were pressed firmly against his chest, so her bra did not fall. She held him a little longer, mentally preparing herself for this next step.

She moved away from him, standing in front of him with her hands holding her bra straps on the opposite shoulder. Cloud felt a surge of blood rush to his loins as she slowly let the straps fall from her shoulders. The garment fell to the ground and she stood there, exposed in the dusky sky.

He stepped toward her, again bringing his lips to hers but letting his hands roam her fleshy assets. He squeezed and teased; his hand just barely big enough to cup one of her breasts. She moaned as she felt the touch of a man she desired for the first time, her arms again wrapping around his neck. His lips parted with hers and made their way to her chin, then to her neck, chest, and finally to her breasts. He was bending down to reach her, and she closed her eyes. She ran her fingers through his hair and dared to press his face into her chest, wanting him to continue on – wanting him to keep exploring her body.

When he returned to her lips, she let her hands rest on his chest, feeling his toned pectoral muscles with her fingertips. She moved her hands down to his leather armor and unhooked it from his own suspenders. She then started to work on his belt buckles.

God, he wore too much armor, but she supposed it was necessary for his line of work. He certainly wasn't dressed for lovemaking, that was for sure. He helped her, his lips still pressed into hers, and when all the leather and plates had fallen to the ground at his feet, he removed his shirt, revealing a toned upper body and abdomen - along with his own scar from Sephiroth's blade. Tifa's followed Cloud's lead by tracing the line of his scar with her fingers before her gaze fell to his Adonis Belt, which was visible above the waistband of his pants. The "V" seemed to be openly mocking her, pointing to what she now wanted most but could not yet have.

Cloud pulled her closer, more forceful this time, to feel her breasts against his own powerful chest. He bent his head down to kiss her neck, sucking on the thin skin and nipping as he moved elsewhere. Tifa's head rolled back as her hands explored the muscles of his back.

Cloud kept an arm around her waist and gently lowered her onto the ground. He was struggling to keep from ripping her skirt and his pants off and taking her immediately. No, their first time was going to last, and she was going to love it. While a certain part of his body wanted to do things differently, Cloud was determined to make this night all about Tifa. She had done so much for him, and he had failed her over and over again. He was going to make up for everything tonight, in case tomorrow was their last day on earth.

He laid down next to her and placed the back of his hand on her thigh. He gently caressed her smooth skin before letting his fingers slide up to the hem of her skirt, then to her inner thigh. She shivered, and Cloud couldn't help but smile that it was his touch that was doing this to her. He moved his hand higher, underneath her skirt, grazing the fabric of her panties. They were wet already, and he let out a moan as his abdominal muscles tightened.

Tifa studied his face as he touched her, seeing expressions she had never seen before from him. He looked happy for the first time since she could remember. He wasn't smiling, his eyes were focused, but his whole demeanor was lighter than it had been in a long time – and it was because of her.

She stretched her arms and clasped her fingers behind her head, arching her back as Cloud's fingers moved aside her panties to play with the flesh beneath. He found her most sensitive bud and rubbed it with his thumb before positioning his index finger at her entrance, petting her slick folds. Tifa bit her lower lip as she anticipated Cloud's next move, tantalized by his teasing yet wanting him to continue. When at last his finger finally entered her, she whelped, her thighs tightening as her body reacted against him. Within seconds, Cloud pushed a second finger into her, though the tightness of her walls made it difficult.

Cloud was the only man she had ever loved, and his fingers were now inside her. It was exhilarating. Anything he did would feel amazing to her inexperienced loins, having never known what it was like to be with someone for which she had feelings. Cloud concentrated on his motion for a few minutes while Tifa writhed beneath him in pleasure. His eyes lifted to scan her face, wanting to know just what she was thinking.

"Oh, Cloud…" she said in a sultry, desperate voice.

While she had remained optimistic during their adventure, she couldn't remember the last time she was truly happy. Whenever that was, it certainly couldn't compare to what she was feeling at this exact moment.

Cloud removed his hand from under her skirt and sat up. He unbuckled her belt and gripped the sides of her skirt to remove it. She kicked it off along with her shoes and socks. She crossed her legs as Cloud removed his own pants and footwear, feeling that even though they had come so far – and it was clear where this was going – she was embarrassed to be seen fully naked by a man, even this man.

Cloud hooked his fingers on the sides of her panties and pulled them down as Tifa uncrossed her legs for him. She quickly closed her knees together, fearing that he would find the folds between her legs unattractive. She certainly didn't understand how any man could see them and get turned on.

She was wrong, of course, as Cloud sat back on his heels to examine her now naked body. She was perfect, in his eyes. He couldn't have dreamed up a more gorgeous woman than the one who now lay quivering beneath him, her body prepared to become one with his own. He crawled on top of her and leaned in to kiss her, rubbing his boxer briefs against her lower body. He did it to see the look of bliss on her face, mixed with a tinge of bitter anticipation, but also as his own fears had reached his thoughts again. What if he wasn't big enough, or good enough? What if he couldn't satisfy her? He nearly started to panic when she opened her eyes and smiled at him, as if to say, "I'm ready."

He had come this far; there was no turning back now. He would do everything in his power to follow through on his promise and the actions he had taken thus far. He removed his boxer briefs and leaned back over her, pulsing with desire, searching her eyes again to see that she approved.

With her desire confirmed, his hand reached down to his throbbing cock, steadying it at her entrance. He felt like he could already come, but he would hold back with all his might to ensure that she was taken care of tonight. The head of his cock tickled her as he prepared to enter her, unknowingly holding his breath. She twitched at the sensation until he started to slide in and her face grimaced.

"Tight…" Cloud said, more to himself than to her. He looked down to see her legs trembling, then into her eyes to see she looked to be in pain. "Should I stop?" he asked, worried that she would accept his offer.

She scrunched her eyes closed but shook her head with muffled moans. "No, I want this," she said.

Cloud nodded and pushed himself in a little deeper, feeling her walls start to widen every so slightly. Tifa still looked like she was in pain, but she continued to encourage him, her hormones overtaking her pain receptors.

When Cloud finally entered her to the hilt she cried out and he stopped. "Keep going," she said through tears. Cloud was careful, waiting for her walls to relax and her body to ease its tension. He lowered himself to his elbows so he could kiss her as he bucked his hips gently against hers, the feeling unlike anything he had ever imagined. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tried to match his movements, eventually falling into rhythm with him.

Those nights on the road where she longed for him to make a move or join her in her bed all faded away as she reached her climax, scared to release for ruining the moment. Cloud sensed her turmoil and wiped the hair from her face. "Let go," he whispered, his lips ghosting across her ear lobe.

His words danced between her ears with multiple meanings and she wanted to obey. She wanted to come for him, with him. She wanted to forget all her fears about tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and just live in the moment with her hero. She wanted to know he felt the same way about her.

A string of curse words spitting from his lips was her reward as he experienced his own release. He tried to pull out before he came but was too late, a sudden realization and fear striking his heart. It had felt too good; he had wanted her for too long. Her hands found his neck and she kept him in place as he tried to sit back, her quiet smile telling him everything he wanted to know.

Tifa had spent years dreaming of this moment, praying that one day she would be able to make Cloud happy. As he stared down at her with heavy-lidded eyes and the most natural smile she'd ever seen on his face, she knew she had succeeded. Cloud felt like a God, like even if Sephiroth were to kill him tomorrow, he could enter the Lifestream proud.

Cloud woke first in the early breaths of morning. The sun was peeking out above the horizon far to the East, but he didn't notice. Instead his gaze fell to the beautiful creature resting her head on his shoulder, still asleep. They had dressed after their encounter, worried that some monster may find them as they slept, though such a thought didn't seem to cross their minds a few hours earlier.

Cloud slowly scanned her body from head to, well, his eyes stopped roaming once they got to her thighs, which were spread slightly. She had been sore after, making him feel like a real man, and she couldn't close her legs due to the tenderness between. He hated to wake her, but they couldn't stay like this forever, as much as he wanted to…

"… It's almost dawn…" he whispered.

Tifa stirred.

"H… huh?" she asked, her eyes fluttering open for just a moment before closing again.

"Sorry. Did I wake you…?" Cloud asked, receiving no response. "It's almost dawn, Tifa."

She sat up and looked around, as if she needed to remind herself where she was and that the previous night had not been a dream.

"Umm… G, good morning… Cloud," she stammered, realizing that last night was real. Her womanhood ached and she felt dirty all over. She loved it. "Give me a little longer… Just a little bit longer…"

She leaned her head on his shoulder again.

"This day will never come again… So, let me have this moment…" she whispered softly.

Cloud nodded.

"Yeah… okay," he said, leaning his head against hers. "This is probably the last time we'll have together…"

They awoke a couple hours later. The sun was now out, and the sky was a brilliant blue streaked with clouds. Tifa looked up at the Highwind hovering in the distance. She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled. The world looked so different today. The Highwind no longer looked so cold and imposing. The metal had a new sheen to it and the undersides lapped up the sun in golden delight. Even the propellers seemed less frantic.

Cloud was still sitting where they had slept, his arms resting on his knees. Tifa let her hands fall to her sides and shook her head, her back turned to Cloud who was, himself, staring in another direction. She hoped he was going over the night before…

She took a deep breath and sighed. Cloud stood up, still facing away from her.

"We'd better go," he said, even though he didn't want to.

At that moment he wanted to suggest finding a small cabin somewhere and waiting out their remaining days in bed. He definitely hated the idea that last night might be their only night together, but he knew they had a job to do. They couldn't be selfish; they had to try and save the planet.

Tifa turned to him and stretched out her arms in exasperation.

"But, I still…!?" she said. There was still so much she wanted to tell him. Words may not have been the only way for him to express his feelings for her, but she now wanted to hear them more than ever. It was foolish, really, to think that they could sleep together and that she would not be left wondering if it meant they were a couple.

"It's all right, Tifa," Cloud said, turning toward her but remaining in place. "You said so yourself yesterday."

He chuckled.

"At least we don't have to go on alone," he continued.

Tifa calmed down a bit. He was right, even if no one else from AVALANCHE – remember them, Tifa? – came back, she was no longer alone.

"Yes… That's right!" she exclaimed.

Cloud flashed her a wry smile and nodded his head. He felt the same way. He would never be alone again.

"Okay! Let's go!" he said before walking toward the Highwind. Tifa soon joined him, taking his hand in hers.

When they reached the walkway to the bridge, Tifa noticed just how empty the ship felt with no one else in it. Yuffie wasn't in her customary position trying to keep from yacking, and the crew members weren't running around outside the conference room and chocobo stall.

"The airship is too big for just the two of us," Tifa said, hanging her head. "Yeah, it's a little lonely without everyone."

Cloud turned around to face her and took a step toward her.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay," he said before doing some squats. "I'll make a big enough ruckus for everyone."

Tifa smiled. She felt so much more at ease around her hero now, and he seemed to soften in her presence as well. When was the last time he joked around with her like this?

"Besides, I'm the pilot," he added, beating his chest with his fist. "No more flying around casually like before. We won't have time to feel lonely."

Tifa flipped her hair behind her shoulders and moved one leg behind her for her trademark flirtatious stance. She nodded her head at the exact moment the airship shook, as if it were taking off. They each looked around but still saw no one.

"Huh!?" Tifa asked.

"It's moving," Cloud said. Without another word, they both ran to the bridge.

Tifa threw her hands up excitedly when she saw Barret and Cid by the wheel. Cait Sith was just inside the entrance, too.

"Barret! Cid!" Cloud exclaimed, running up to his friends.

Barret looked at each of them nervously, a little heat rising up in his cheeks.

"O, oh… is that okay with you?" he asked them.

They didn't seem to understand, and he didn't want to push the issue. He loved Tifa like his own daughter and always wanted her to be happy. He still had some misgivings about Cloud, but if he made Tifa happy, Barret was happy.

Nanaki bounded up the stairs behind the wheel. Cloud called out his name, elated to see how many people had returned to the Highwind.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Tifa asked Barret.

She assumed they had gotten back to the ship that morning, perhaps not even noticing her and Cloud on the ground below. Nanaki shook his head.

"But, you know, Cid," the red beast said to the pilot, who had refused to look at Cloud or Tifa.

He suddenly released the wheel and ran over to Nanaki.

"Hey, Nanaki," he said gruffly. "If you butt in now, you never know what they'll say later…"

Tifa blinked a few times as it slowly dawned on her. They had _not_ just boarded the ship this morning.

"… Were you watching?" she asked, as her breath quickened. The most important night of her life, and her friends had all seen.

She turned away from them as her face flushed a deep shade of crimson from embarrassment. She ran to the front of the bridge and collapsed on the floor, holding her head and sobbing. She had never been so mortified in her entire life. She thought over everything she and Cloud had done the night before.

_"OH GODS,"_ she thought to herself, praying they couldn't have seen too much from their perch aboard the ship.

If they had… they had seen her in all her glory, completely exposed. They would have seen her do unspeakable things, things only girls in dirty movies would do, things that no one except Cloud was allowed to see.

She could hear Barret and Cid whooping and cheering behind her. She felt shame deep down in her abdomen. She suddenly felt as if she were naked in front of all of them, each of them gawking at her like she was on display. She almost wished Meteor would swiftly end her suffering.

Cloud blushed as well and scratched the back of his head. If they were watching, they surely saw how inexperienced and awkward he was. Barret and Cid were much older and had certainly had their share of sexual encounters. They must have been laughing at him the whole time. And they must have seen Tifa. He didn't want any other man to see her that way, especially now that she was his.

He walked over to where she had collapsed and knelt down beside her, wrapping his muscular arms around her and holding her against him tight. Barret and Cid realized they needed to stop their celebrations and cleared their throats.

_Present Day…_

Tifa again found herself on the Highwind, leaning against the railing and staring at the ground below. She and Vincent had to fight their way out of Edge to get to the airship. The monsters in and around the city now were no longer simply native to Midgar, with ark dragons, spirals, and even goblins traveling to the new city, as if they were on their own adventure.

Once onboard the Highwind, Cid relayed the difficulty he had getting to Edge. Apparently, the monster population around Rocket Town was venturing into the city regularly and attacking his ship. He had to put an electric fence around it to keep them out. Even getting to the Highwind was difficult these days, as he had to fight off creatures just to get inside the fence.

Tifa waited patiently, nervously, for Cid to finish grousing before she spoke, her voice quiet and her tone meek.

"Um, Cid?" she asked, not able to look in his eyes. "Before you take us to Nibelheim, could we stop somewhere else first?"

Cid's mouth dropped open and he prepared for another tirade. How dare she ask more of him after everything he was already doing! It was then he finally realized Cloud was not with her and that she hadn't mentioned him when she called earlier. Something was wrong. Tifa wasn't one to ask for much from people, so whatever she wanted must be important.

"Where?" he asked, softening. Tifa tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Can we go to The Forgotten Capital? I think Cloud might be there," she said.

Cid watched her expression drop as she spoke. If it had been anyone else, he might have denied their request and given them an earful, but Tifa looked like she _needed_ this. He hadn't seen her _need_ anything since they went to Mideel to find Cloud two years ago.

"How long has he been missing?" Cid asked. Tifa sighed.

"Over four months. I haven't heard from him. He said he was looking for 'forgiveness' so I think he went to The Forgotten Capital," she answered all his potential questions before he could ask them, just like with Vincent.

Cid nodded and headed down below to the bridge, ordering his men to prepare for takeoff.

Tifa sighed as she watched the world whip by below her in a blur. Even though she knew it was futile, she still looked below, searching for Cloud, hoping she would see that he was traveling back to Edge and to her. Of course, she could not have seen him even if they did pass over him, and she felt that same sense of loneliness she experienced when everyone had left the Highwind two years ago, leaving her with just Cloud. To be sure, she had felt that loneliness to some extent ever since Cloud had left. Maybe she should get a dog when she returned.

The only times she felt less lonely was when she and the Turks were fighting monsters. It was _almost_ like old times when she was with them, except that she had fought monsters _and_ the Turks with AVALANCHE. When they drank in her bar, even though they had once been enemies, it provided her with a sense of familiarity that had been missing from her life. Against all odds, they were now her friends.

She still hadn't heard from or seen Reno since his last text. This little excursion, she hoped, would clear her mind of the men in her life. She should have known even back when she was first with Cloud that he was emotionally unavailable, even if it didn't seem like it at the time. His domesticity couldn't last for long. He had Jenova cells in him, and mako. He was a warrior, and he needed to fight. Somehow doing the dishes and changing lightbulbs would just never be enough for him, even if was with Tifa.

And what about Reno?

_What ABOUT Reno? _She scoffed.

If Cloud wasn't the type to settle down, Reno certainly wasn't either. Reno's idea of conquering may have differed from Cloud's, but they were both goal-oriented fighters in their own right. If Reno had any interest in her, it was purely physical.

Why was he on her mind at all, then?

He had, indeed, planted a seed in her brain, making her question his feelings, making her question her _own_ feelings. The idea that someone like Reno might actually like her gnawed at her brain no matter how many times she told herself it simply wasn't true. She felt her own notions of achievement wash over her. Could she really be so desirable that she would turn even a tomcat like Reno into a hopeless romantic. She scoffed at the thought. She wasn't desirable enough for Cloud, and Cloud _wasn't_ a womanizer.

"I have a theory," she heard Vincent say, suddenly appearing beside her.

Had he been there the whole time?

Tifa continued to stare out at the landscape.

"I think the Lifestream emboldened the monsters, increasing their power, encouraging them to breed," Vincent continued, undeterred by her lack of interest.

"Nanaki had a similar theory," Tifa informed her companion. Neither looked at each other, and their voices matched in tone.

"I just want to see if Hojo ran any experiments on monsters, instead of just humans," Vincent added.

"Well, I'm here to help," Tifa replied.

Even when she tried, she couldn't keep her underlying warmness hidden for long. Just the anticipation of knowing she was on another adventure with AVALANCHE – just one member, but still – was enough to calm her scattered mind.

"We're here," Cid's voice rang over the loudspeakers. "Get the hell off my ship."

Tifa laughed inwardly at Cid's demand. She knew he was half-kidding but appreciated his attempt to lift her spirits. She glanced at Vincent before throwing the rope ladder over the side of the airship and climbing down, the ex-Turk not far behind.

The Highwind was hovering just outside the city. The roar of the engine and the displacement of the dirt below scattered the fiends in the area. On their previous adventure, no monsters had wandered into The Forgotten Capital. Now, however, Tifa noticed that creatures from all over the world were spread out around the fork in the road that led further into the city. A behemoth was fighting a blue dragon near the path toward Aerith's lake while bandersnatches, kimara bugs, malboros and others all appeared together, moving away from the Highwind.

Tifa and Vincent snuck around the two beasts that were fighting and moved into the narrow tunnel beyond the middle path.

Tifa was halfway through when she began to see damage to the walls. Slash marks damaged the architecture and the shells that lined the walls. Tifa ran her hand over one line.

"I don't think a monster did this…" she said.

"The hell?" she heard Cid behind them. She hadn't expected him to join them.

The markings on the wall were singular slashes in haphazard locations. If it had been a beast, there likely would have been parallel slashings from claws or shorter markings from teeth. As it were, none of the creatures they had seen near the fork followed them into the tunnel.

Tifa could see the light that seemed to endlessly shine on Aerith's lake up ahead, her memories pulled back to the day they buried her there. She held her breath as the tunnel opened up to the forest clearing where the lake stood in front of the old shell house that led underground to where Aerith was killed.

Immediately her attention was drawn to a familiar figure lounging at the side of the lake, laying on his side, supporting his head with his fist and looking practically bored. Cloud. He looked better than when Tifa last saw him four months earlier. The purple bags that had formed under his eyes from lack of sleep were gone, and color had returned to his skin and eyes. His expression, too, appeared lighter than before.

Tifa's heart broke. Cloud looked fine, as if getting away from her was all he needed to heal. She stopped walking forward, but the blond swordsman had heard her footsteps and looked up in her direction. Just as Tifa let his name escape her lips he was up and running toward her.

"Tifa!" he said, wrapping her up in his strong arms, nearly crushing her in a hug that could have been given by Barret.

Neither saw Cid pull Vincent back into the narrow passageway to give them privacy.

"Cloud…" she breathed against him, pressing her head into his chest.

Cloud suddenly pulled away when she spoke, as if he had just woken up from a dream and she was not the person he expected to see.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone suddenly dark as he kept her at arm's length.

Tifa staggered at his sudden change, grasping for a response.

"I thought… maybe you were hurt," she said, unable to look him in the eyes.

Cloud rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her.

"No," he responded shortly.

Tifa was confused. First he hugged her and now he was acting completely different; cold.

"How are the headaches?" she asked.

"Uh, pretty much gone," Cloud responded, his voice devoid of warmth or even the familiarity he had built up with Tifa over their lives together.

Tifa's stomach twisted in her gut as she began to consider the fact that Cloud was never as bad off as she thought and that his leaving her really did have to do with her and not the headaches. Still, she decided to keep pushing.

"So, you found forgiveness? Will you come home?"

Cloud locked eyes with her, almost looking hostile.

"I can't," he admitted.

"Why?"

"Tifa…"

"What, Cloud!? What is it you're not telling me? I've known you my whole life, what could it possibly be that you can't tell me?"

"The nightmares are worse," he said, the anger from his voice dissipating, replaced with defeat. "Being around me is dangerous."

"We've been together the past two years! We've faced all kinds of danger!"

_Tifa?_

_Cloud! You're alive! I thought we'd lost you!_

_What's going on?_

_Shh. I'll explain everything later. But now, I'm on my way to see Don Corneo. You should head back to Seventh Heaven, meet up with the gang._

_But—_

_I'll be fine. You've seen how much ass I can kick._

_I have…_

"Not like this, Tifa," Cloud turned his back to her and folded his arms over his chest.

"But we can get through it together," Tifa pleaded, her eyes welling up with tears, fearful that Cloud was going to say exactly what she didn't want to hear.

During their time together after Meteorfall, she thought she had gotten over her jealousy of Cloud's feelings for Aerith. The flower girl had been Tifa's best friend, but she always struggled with the relationship she shared with Cloud and whether he felt the same. Now, standing at Aerith's lake as Cloud pushed her away, those feelings came roaring back.

"Don't you get it, Tifa? I _am_ the danger!"

"What do you mean?"

Cloud let out an exasperated sigh. He wasn't getting through to her and he knew it. Tifa, his loyal friend, simply refused to give up. He couldn't tell her the truth; she'd never accept it, and he couldn't risk her life.

"Tifa, I'm not coming back," he said, still not looking at her. "This is where I belong now."

Tifa's hands balled into fists at her sides as she struggled to stop the tears from flowing. She wanted to yell at him, to tell him to snap out of it and stop feeling sorry for himself over the past. It wasn't his fault that Aerith or Zack died; he didn't just attract death. She was angry, for sure, but she spoke to him in a calm, measured voice that showed her feelings without raising her voice.

"So, the headaches and the nightmares…"

Cloud took a deep breath. "They weren't the only reasons I left…" he said, lowering his gaze to his feet.

Tifa's lower lip quivered but she steeled her eyes with a look of resolve, masking the hurt and anger behind them.

"I see…" she said, her heart joining her stomach in doing flips.

She watched Cloud's back a moment to see if he would even face her to admit the truth – but he didn't. She nodded her head even though no one was watching and turned to leave Aerith's lake. She stopped at the edge of the passageway and put her hand on the jagged surface, looking over her shoulder at Cloud's still unmoved form.

"You know, you could have told me you didn't love me four months ago…" she said before quickly storming through the passageway toward the Highwind. Vincent and Cid had to quickly get out of her way as she passed to climb up the rope ladder to the airship. The look on her face told them not to ask questions.

The two men looked at each other and then back down the passageway toward the lake before they, too, returned to the airship in silence.

"Tifa..." Cloud said once she was in the passageway, his own heart heavy.

**A/N: Yes, Cloud went all "Breaking Bad" in this chapter.**


	12. That Darn Turk

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard Disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 7/1/2020: Massive edits throughout to stop Reno from being a narcissistic abuser.**

Chapter 12:

Upon landing in Nibelheim, Vincent and Tifa were immediately greeted by a pack of Nibel wolves. Tifa groaned as she readied herself for a fight, while Vincent began firing his weapon. Cid took off in the Highwind, promising to return the next day. He would have stayed, he said, but worried about leaving the airship alone overnight without the safety of the electric fencing he had built in Rocket Town.

When Vincent and Tifa were finished with the wolves, they entered Nibelheim, walking beneath the town sign that now hung lopsided from an apparent monster attack. The streets were quiet, eerily so. Tifa wondered if it was due to the constant threat of monster attacks or if it was still the same quietness they had experienced when they first discovered the town had been rebuilt.

Yet as they walked deeper into the town, Tifa realized there were no monsters in the town square. She turned around to examine the path they had just taken. She could see fiends back on the grassy plains outside the town, but they seemed to be avoiding the village itself. She couldn't blame them. With everything that had happened in this town, she wanted to avoid it, too.

She looked around at the weathered buildings and the old well, neither her nor Vincent saying a word. The buildings looked just as they had when she was a kid, which still creeped her out since Shinra had rebuilt the town. Tifa could never figure out how Shinra managed to get every detail exactly right except for the poor acting skills of the Shinra employees hired to be townspeople. The air was chilled as they made their way toward the manor and Tifa wrapped her arms around her chest to keep warm. Vincent stopped just outside the inn.

"We should get a fresh start in the morning," he said.

Tifa readily agreed. She was exhausted from her fight with Cloud in The Forgotten Capital and just wanted to fall asleep to forget this day ever happened. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to follow Cloud. She felt like a fool and she was humiliated. She thought he was sick; but he just didn't love her anymore. He missed Aerith too much and would apparently rather live alone next to the lake where she was buried than with living, breathing Tifa. She had been battling tears ever since she left him earlier in the day. Thankfully, neither Vincent nor Cid asked her what happened.

She tried to focus on why she was back in Nibelheim, the absolute last place on Gaia she wanted to be – well, second to last, now. She remembered how many monsters lurked inside the Shinra mansion years ago and could only imagine how many were there now.

She cringed. AVALANCHE's first journey to the manor was like something out of a horror movie. The floors creaked, dust and cobwebs covered _everything_, and monsters jumped out to scare them at every turn. She recalled how much they struggled to solve Hojo's riddle to get the key to find Vincent. On far too many occasions, she had considered begging Cloud to give up, but he was determined. If Aerith hadn't been there to keep them healed, Tifa didn't think any of them would have survived.

And… her thoughts were right back to Cloud. Tifa hadn't felt like a third wheel when they were in the Shinra manor two years ago, but she now realized she had been. She must have been the third wheel a lot.

She dreaded returning to the manor, even though she was now so much stronger than she had been back then.

She and Vincent entered the inn and approached the clerk's desk.

"Two rooms," Vincent said, holding up two metal fingers for emphasis. The clerk was visibly nervous in Vincent's presence. His voice wavered as he spoke.

"I'm sorry… we only have one room available," he said, mentally bracing himself to be attacked by the frightening man standing before him.

Vincent looked at Tifa, who shrugged. It wasn't like she hadn't had to share a room with members of AVALANCHE before. Vincent turned his head back to the clerk and nodded in acceptance.

The Nibelheim Inn had never been full when they visited before. The whole team had always been able to fit comfortably within its walls. The room she was now relegated to had two twin-size beds with just a nightstand separating them, and a small bathroom. There was barely enough room to walk from the door to the other end of the room, a far cry different than the rooms she had usually stayed in while traveling.

She now realized that other members of her party may have stayed in this very room when they visited Nibelheim the first time. She, Yuffie, and Aerith always roomed together, and now that she thought back, the boys always did allow them to take the best room they could rent. She scrunched her eyes closed as she learned she had been privileged – if that was the right word – during their adventure.

She and the girls always talked long into the night about what had happened during the day. Yuffie usually focused on whatever new materia she found while Tifa and Aerith discussed the fights and newly learned information, each sure to stay away from the subject of their interactions with Cloud. Tifa missed those nights with the girls.

Vincent was predictably bad company. As soon as they entered the room, he plopped down on the far bed and seemed to disappear into another world. He sat back against the headboard and closed his eyes while crossing his arms. Tifa didn't think he was sleeping, but he didn't seem awake either.

She checked her PHS – several messages from Yuffie, because the young ninja couldn't just type everything in one text – and placed it on the nightstand between the beds. She hadn't told her former companion about her interaction with Cloud. For one thing, she didn't want to have the conversation over text messages and for another, she didn't feel like calling her friend right now. She wanted to try to hold off crying as long as possible, though now that she was alone with her thoughts – Vincent didn't seem to be totally conscious – she found it difficult.

The thought of telling members of AVALANCHE that she failed to keep Cloud's attention formed a pit in her stomach, a void she dreaded. Cid and Vincent knew now, and Yuffie knew from before, so the information would probably spread rapidly throughout the group. She felt embarrassment creep up through her core.

Tifa removed a novel from her knapsack and settled into bed to read but her mind kept returning to what Cloud had said.

_I am the danger._

She flittered between anger and depression as she lay in bed after throwing the book across the room. Vincent didn't even stir. The martial artist climbed under the covers and pulled the blanket over her head, finally giving in to the tears that had been burning behind her eyes all evening.

The next morning, she and Vincent reached the gates to the manor without interference. Again, Tifa noticed that the fiends weren't coming into the village. She saw a pack of Nibel wolves standing at the entrance, stepping in place and barking as if there was a wall keeping them from entering. After a few minutes, they turned and walked to their right, behind the buildings on the outer edge of the town.

The metal gate of the Shinra manor creaked as Vincent pushed the doors open and walked through. They were so rusted at this point, Tifa was surprised they didn't just break at the slightest touch.

If anything, the mansion was mustier than it was before, if that was possible. Maybe it was just because she hadn't been here in two years and had managed to push the memories of this place out of her mind.

A ghirofelgo swung at them from above, cutting a path between Vincent and Tifa, his bladed lower body narrowly missing her shoulder. Her hair blew backward in the wind caused by his swing. Vincent removed the Death Penalty from its holster and fired a shot square between the monster's eyes, killing it instantly.

"We don't have time to waste," he said.

He kept his hands on his gun, poised to shoot, as he led Tifa up the staircase and to the right, into the bedroom with the secret wall door to the basement. A couple of mirages were waiting for them inside the hidden room, but the seasoned fighters dispatched them quickly and continued on.

As they reached the bottom of the spiraling ramp, a colony of bats flew out of the basement corridor and up into the secret room, frantically flying in circles as they searched for an exit.

Vincent ignored them as he stepped into the basement. Tifa looked up at the ceiling and the swarm of bats before following him. A few of the bats were separated from their group and attacked. Tifa was bit on her shoulder and swatted the animal away. Vincent took a few swipes with his clawed hand since they were too quick for his pistol. When they succeeded in getting the bats to leave them alone, they began walking toward the library but were stopped by a ying and yang.

Tifa had once been terrified of this particular creature, but now remembered a conversation she had with Cloud during happier times in Edge where he made a crude joke about how their heads looked like two uncircumcised –

Ying slapped her upside the head. She retaliated with a swift kick to the face, causing it to fall backwards and die. Vincent cast fire on yang, who joined ying in death.

"What's so funny?" Vincent asked grimly.

Tifa's face turned red. She couldn't let Vincent in on her and Cloud's inside joke.

"I was just thinking about how much easier it is to walk through here than it was two years ago," she said innocently.

At least she could find amusement in some memories with Cloud.

They reached the door to Hojo's experimentation lab and Vincent paused with his hand on the doorknob. Tifa sensed his hesitation and decided to spare him the embarrassment of having to ask.

"I'll take this room, why don't you check out the library?" Tifa asked. Vincent nodded.

Tifa had never been in this room before but knew that it existed and what had happened to Vincent here. She didn't think he had ever come back and though he was usually emotionless, Tifa could tell he still hurt when he thought back to his time as a Turk.

The experimentation room was filled with lab equipment and machines. A large island in the middle of the room contained a cutout desk with a microscope in front of it. The rest of the island was the resting place for beakers and petri dishes. In the back of the room, still recognizable, was the containment vessel where Vincent had been kept while Hojo ran his experiments. Tifa shuddered at the thought. Vincent and Cloud had both been experimented on by Hojo, and Aerith spent her first few years of life in one of his labs and was nearly another one of his victims in Midgar. Tifa thought about how she may have lost everything due to Shinra – twice – but she still felt lucky not to have been one of those that fell into Hojo's grasp.

She walked slowly alongside the island, running her hand gently on the countertop and leaving finger trails in the dust that had collected over the past 30-some years. When she reached the work area, she leaned forward to peer into the microscope, knowing full well she would have no clue what she was looking at.

She heard what she thought sounded like the door opening behind her and spun around to see if Vincent had gathered the courage to enter. All she saw was the lab equipment and a closed, unmoving door. Her nerves must be playing tricks on her.

The microscope still contained a slide, possibly of Jenova, possibly of Chaos or who knows what else. She bent back over to take a second look. She fumbled with the knobs on the side of the device, trying to focus the blurry red splotches she could see on the slide. When she did, nothing really changed, they were now just focused red splotches.

"Long time no see, Lockhart," a familiar voice said as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Tifa nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. She flailed her arms for balance, but lost and fell onto her backside, Reno laughing all the while. She quickly recovered and stood back up, muttering a few curses at him and adjusting her skirt.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, still trying to get her heart rate under control. "I told you not to sneak up on me!"

"I didn't mean to this time! I swear!" Tifa rolled her eyes. "You're not happy to see me?" he teased, keeping the distance between them minimal.

"Not particularly, no," she said, backing away from him. At least now she could focus on something other than Cloud.

"Well, that's too bad, yo," he said, that impish smile returning to his face. "Because I'm certainly happy to see you."

"Whatever" Tifa said, turning her head to look toward the back of the lab.

Reno's enthusiasm waned. He thought she would have reacted differently given their last encounter and the last text he sent. Something was wrong. She wasn't responding to his attempts to be charming.

"Something wrong, babe?" he asked, his eyebrows knitting in concern that went unnoticed.

He put his hands in his pockets and started to slowly walk toward her. He led with his hips, his shoulders hunched over and his eyes inspecting Tifa. She winced at the word "babe."

This one was definitely a challenge.

"Don't like 'babe'?" he asked sheepishly. "How about sweetie?" Tifa shook her head. "Kitten?" She shook her head again. "…Sugartits?"

Tifa shot him a look that said she wanted to snap his neck for that last one. Maybe he could cheer her up with his particular brand of humor, or at least snap her out of whatever mood she was in. The look on her face was quickly replaced with one of utter sorrow. He expected a snappy comeback from her like he would usually receive at the bar. Maybe he had been gone too long?

No, she was completely different, like she was during the first couple months after Cloud had left.

"Seriously, yo, did something happen?"

He saw it in her eyes immediately, though it was clear she was fighting. Her arms were straight at her sides and her fists were trembling. She looked down at her feet and Reno could see she was about to lose it. He wasn't used to this and didn't know what to say or do. He wasn't good in these situations. He was more the "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" kind of guy. He didn't stick around to talk about feelings or problems.

But seeing her the way she was made him want to comfort her, even though he didn't know how. He thought his odds were about 50-50 that she would either attack him or cry if he approached her, but he took his chances anyway. She had seemed to be doing much better these past couple months. She had laughed with him and Rude and given as good as she got from them. She no longer cried in the storage room or faked all her smiles. He found himself suddenly wanting to help her get back to that state. He knew she hadn't regressed because of him disappearing for a week, but she still hadn't answered him.

He closed the distance between them a little more and noticed her whole body was now shaking and tears were falling to the ground between her feet. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around to make sure they were alone, as if he hadn't known already. He wasn't ready for his reputation as a badass to get tarnished and he worried Rude might be mad with him if he caught them, but he couldn't just leave her now. Reno raised his jaw and took the last step toward Tifa, tentatively reaching his hands out to rest them on her shoulders.

"Hey, you alright, Lockhart?" he asked, bending his knees so that he stood at her eye level.

She still didn't answer, but he heard her sob and then sniffle before suddenly lurching forward and wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and crying harder.

Reno's hands fell from her shoulders and he held his arms in the air for a moment, stunned by her actions and unsure what to do next. He heard her sobbing as she tightened her grip around him. Their friendship was tenuous at this point, vaguely established but walking on a razor thin wire that could snap without much weight. He didn't know whether touching her at this moment would be the feather that broke the wire.

He remained motionless and confused for a moment before slowly reaching out to wrap his arms around her. When she didn't object, he started gently stroking her back to comfort her. He couldn't remember the last time he had held someone like this.

No, he could, but he didn't want to think about that.

Tifa was reminded of the first time Cloud comforted her in the flower garden outside Aerith's home in Sector 5. She was crying into the chiseled chest of a man who didn't quite know how to respond, only this time, the strong, trepid arms that eventually wrapped around her bore no armbands to dig into her spine, and the owner was experienced enough to know his own strength and how not to crush a woman.

"I saw Cloud yesterday," Tifa finally said into the part of his chest exposed by his unbuttoned shirt, which was now moist with salty tears.

Reno closed his eyes as his nostrils flared in brief disgust. _Of course_ this was about Cloud, what else could upset Tifa this much? He tightened his hold on her ever so slightly, struggling to reconcile the fact that her closeness was releasing something from him he did not understand and didn't want to acknowledge. It didn't help that her sobbing caused her body to throb against him in a most tantalizing way. He snuffed the urge within to make a sexual comment at that moment, opting instead to just stay silent. He had "comforted" Elena before, but that consisted of teasing her or telling her to "suck it up and get back to work," and he didn't think either approach would end well with Tifa.

_Mister First Class_ had done some real damage to her, this much Reno could tell, but at this moment he wasn't sure he wanted to be "that guy" – the one that listened to her complain about another man.

She would have laughed when he gently patted her on the back as if to say "there, there," were she not so distraught over what Cloud had said. She didn't even know why she reached out to Reno in a way she didn't with the two members of AVALANCHE with which she had traveled. Maybe it was precisely _because_ Reno wasn't a member of AVALANCHE who had always assumed Tifa and Cloud would end up together. Or maybe it was just because he was _there_.

"Ya know," he said when she didn't elaborate, "I always thought that guy was a jagweed."

Tifa made a noise into his chest that sounded half like a sob and half like a chuckle. She didn't let him go, and he might have tried to continue to release his complaints about Strife if it made her feel better, but as he opened his mouth again, the front door of the room opened abruptly and Rude flew inside backwards, struggling to stay on his feet. Vincent walked forward, pointing his gun at the Turk.

Tifa didn't give them time to notice the compromising position she was in, instinctively shoving Reno's chest to send him flying backward as well. Even though she had become friendly with Reno and Rude, Vincent didn't know that, and she quickly fell into her old fighting stance as the ex-Turk approached the current Turk. It was all too easy for her to return to the familiarity: If there was AVALANCHE and Turks around, there was fighting.

Reno didn't seem surprised or angry by her move, as he had accepted the possibility that they would have to fight due to their opposing interests. What surprised Tifa, however, was the half smirk on his face as he was thrown back, noticeable for only a second or two, but present in its truest form. An expression she hadn't seen in the alley due to the lack of light, and one he quickly wiped from his face as if he hadn't intended for her to see it. He had a look in his eyes that she had only seen once before. It was the same look Cloud had in his eyes when he removed her shirt for the first time under the Highwind. Reno was looking at her as if she were naked before him.

_Oh God, he's turned on when I hit him!_

Reno's back slammed against the wall opposite Tifa; 30 years of dust falling on top of him and several bricks dislodging on impact. Everything happened so fast, he could still see Tifa's arms raised from her powerful shove – the same arms that were just wrapped around him seeking comfort.

He looked toward Rude, who was defending himself from Valentine's bullets, then back toward Tifa wish a shrug and a look that seemed to say, "guess we should join them." He moved his left hand down to unhook his EMR from its clip on his belt and with one fluid flick of his wrist, extended the weapon, his thumb discretely moving the intensity dial all the way down to the left.

During a romp with one particularly _sadistic_ woman – God, rest her soul, if she actually had one – Reno discovered, through trial-and-error, that lowering the setting on his mag rod (he had never done that before) would drop the voltage to within range of the electric wires typically set atop fences for chocobos. The shock would bite, but not enough to keep someone down; it was just enough to warn the chocobos not to reach over the fence. That wasn't particularly interesting to Reno, but what _was_ interesting was when he figured out that aiming his weapon – at the lower intensity – at a woman's lower abdomen, atop a particularly sensitive cluster of nerves, could send shockwaves of pleasure throughout her body.

Reno now slowly approached Tifa with his weapon set at this lower setting, his eyes trained on her without any malice. He leapt toward her with his weapon outstretched, but she easily dodged his telegraphed attack. She didn't know what he was planning, but the look in his eyes told her he didn't want to follow through.

She had fought him before and never seen that earlier primal look in his eyes, making her wonder whether she had really seen it at all. Of course, she couldn't really tell what his expression was through the yellow-tinted (and rather opaque) walls of the pyramid he kept placing around her atop the Sector 7 pillar. The only other time she had fought him was outside Gongaga. His expression wasn't _that_ savage, but at the time she figured he just enjoyed the thought of killing her and her friends. She never thought that his inhuman smile was because he was sexually aroused from fighting.

She gagged at the thought as she backed away from him. He was just casually strolling toward her, tapping the shaft of his mag rod on his shoulder, his eyes shifting to the sides to check for Rude or Vincent before he mouthed what looked like the words, "I'm sorry." She continued to back away, somewhat confused by his actions. He didn't seem to want to hurt her or even fight her, caught up in his partner's battle just as she was, but he was brandishing that mag rod. Even if it was just for show, she feared its sting.

Tifa had been shot, stabbed, punched, _slapped_, and set on fire, but nothing compared to the electricity from that mag rod of Reno's. Hours after their fight in Gongaga, she could feel the electrical charges pulsing in her veins. Each time the pain would flare up she thought she was having a heart attack, and no amount of cure spells could make it stop. The pain stopped when it wanted to stop.

She ran toward Reno and performed a somersault kick to his chest, causing him to stagger. Like him, she was in a mode to protect her friend, though she currently had no grudge with the Turks. She landed a few feet from Reno and he motioned with his fingers for her to come at him. She shook her head and prepared to kick him again, not at full strength, but even still he caught her foot and held it until she lost her balance and fell against the nearby wall. He turned back to see that Rude had just gotten a few shots in on Valentine, and though both of the other men were focused on their own battle, they could easily see Reno and Tifa.

Reno sighed and closed the distance between him and Tifa, pinning her to the wall. "Sorry for this, Lockhart," he said, somehow both sincere and feral at the same time. Tifa couldn't believe that a _Turk_, especially _this_ Turk, had apologized to her twice in one day.

They both knew the fight wouldn't look real if the mag rod didn't spark, but when he brought it to her lower abdomen, she just looked at him, frightened and confused. Tifa had tensed up in preparation for the jolt but hadn't expected it to feel…good? She shook her head. No, that wasn't possible. What had he just done to her? Her belly felt warm but not like she had just been electrocuted. She stumbled along the wall to get away from him, realizing this pretend fight was having a strange effect on her.

Blood rushed to her face as she turned beet red. This wasn't how the mag rod was supposed to feel. She must be going crazy. She must be weird. This couldn't possibly be a normal reaction to getting thousands of volts pumped into one's abdomen.

She had backed herself into the corner of the lab now, with Reno still in mock pursuit. _He must know_.

There was no other reason why he would have targeted her so specifically. The last time they fought, he had lashed out at various pressure points on her body and none of them felt as good as her abdomen had a second ago. Reno kept looking over his shoulder to see that Rude and Vincent were still fighting as he approached Tifa, again positioning the mag rod and preparing to lower it to her, his face letting her know he wanted this to stop. Tifa decided she would make it so.

"Vincent! Rude! Stop!" she yelled to the front of the room, causing the two men to turn toward her abruptly, weapons still raised. "Vincent, the Turks aren't our enemy anymore."

Vincent tilted his head in confusion as his eyes narrowed, continuing to hold the Death Penalty in Rude's direction. Tifa passed Reno and moved to the front of the room, the heartache she was experiencing earlier replaced by the determination to stop more bloodshed between AVALANCHE and the Turks.

"They're here for Hojo's information," Vincent calmly informed her.

Tifa shot Rude a questioning look before she turned back to Reno, who placed his hands in his pockets and averted his gaze from her as he started to whistle.

"I should have known," she said dismissively, shaking her head. She hadn't really thought Reno was just stalking her, but with everything else on her mind, she hadn't put together the obvious.

Reno turned away to hide the smirk that had crept onto his face again. Just that little bout with Tifa had been exhilarating, and the noise she made when he pressed the mag rod to her abdomen wouldn't stop repeating in his head, as brief as it was.

Maybe he had gone too far, but he knew the sound Tifa made wasn't a cry of pain. He had seen her in her most intimate and vulnerable state. He had wanted that for _years_, but it wasn't enough. It was one thing to do that to her with his mag rod, but he wanted to see her like that while using his _other_ weapon. No, not the pistol (cheesy, he knew).

He had to regain his composure before the thoughts of making his own attempt at her started up again. She still hadn't answered Rude's date request, and even though Reno was fighting this strange addiction, he was loyal to his partner.

"What do the Turks want with Hojo's notes?" Vincent asked.

"Official Turk business, yo," Reno said with a smirk and wink in Tifa's direction.

Tifa stifled a groan.

"It's Shinra property," Rude explained.

"Why now?" Vincent asked, his deep-set eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The monster attacks are increasing. Shinra wants to do its part to save the world," Rude said.

Reno laced his fingers behind his head and puffed out his chest.

"Can't let AVALANCHE get all the glory again, you know?" he said, rather sarcastically. Tifa didn't notice.

"Glory?" Tifa interjected bitterly. "It's not about glory! It's about doing what's _right_! Ever thought about that?"

It was Reno's turn to look away. He suspected her sudden outburst wasn't really directed at him, but he couldn't argue with her words. He was tempted to say they were just following orders, but he remembered her reaction the last time he said that. He figured he would be pushing his luck after his stunt with the mag rod. He had long since given up wanting to see her angry for his own gratification.

"Why does it have to be a competition?" Vincent asked.

Everyone turned to look at him. No one had an answer. There really was no reason why Shinra and AVALANCHE couldn't work together to help save the world this time. But orders were orders, and Rufus wanted Shinra to get the credit.

"It doesn't _have_ to be, but that makes it more fun," was all Reno could offer. "Besides, we have scientists who can decipher this junk, what were you gonna do? You understand Hojo's notes? Hmm? Gonna give em to your dog? Maybe the little ninja's been hiding a science degree?"

"We've out-maneuvered you thus far," Tifa responded quickly. "And if I recall, Shinra scientists are the reason we're all in this mess anyway!"

Reno scoffed, again suspecting her attitude wasn't meant for him and that her dig at Shinra was about something other than the current situation. He found himself a little bitter that he had tried to comfort her not 10 minutes earlier and now she was lashing out at him.

"You know what, Rude? I don't feel like fighting over some scribbles, let's let them have a look first, we probably already got everything we need from the Shinra building," he said. "Might as well head to the bar."

"Nibelheim's a dry town," Tifa informed him snidely.

Reno groaned loudly and stormed out of the room with Rude close behind.

"What was that all about?" Vincent asked, though his voice indicated he did not actually care for an answer.

Tifa watched Reno leave in a huff and felt guilty. He had been so kind to her earlier, and she didn't intend to work herself up and take out her anger on him.

Without another word, Vincent turned on his heels, his ragged red cape sweeping the air behind him, and left the room to return to the library. Tifa took one last look around the room she was in, but there were no documents or anything else of use.

She stood up, still a little shaky from her brief stint with the mag rod, and joined Vincent to inspect the room next door. They remained there for hours, searching and reading and gathering what they thought might be of informational value.

Though it would not help them in their current mission, Tifa spent some time reading Hojo's detailed notes on Cloud and Zack's imprisonment and the experiments run on them. Cloud had told her what he could remember from the years he spent in that tube. Hojo's handwriting left something to be desired, but Tifa managed to make out what she thought he had written.

It didn't give her any additional insight into Cloud's persona or give her any answers to the questions he left unanswered in The Forgotten Capital.

She depressed herself – again – with thoughts of him as they continued to search the library. When at last they had checked the last few books and were thoroughly covered in dust (and more than a few spiders), they gathered what little they had found and returned to the hotel.

Tifa showered first, letting the hot water cleanse her body of not only the dirt from the mansion, but also of Reno. There were just two small red welts on her belly from his EMR instead of the usual burn marks. Her insides quaked with the desire to feel that kind of physical pleasure again – she just hoped it wouldn't be in the same situation. Maybe Shinra sold mag rods for home use?

It was dark when she finished bathing. She dried herself off and dressed in her typical midriff-baring tank top and miniskirt. She looked out the window to see a full moon atop a sky swirling with shades of blue. Even with all her travels, the Nibelheim sky was still her favorite, so she left the inn to climb up the old well where promises had been made once.

She sat at the top of the well, the moonlight illuminating her skin as if she were made of pearl. She looked up at the sky and crossed her legs, which were hanging over the edge of the structure that seemed so much taller when she was a little girl.

She brought one of her legs up to hug her knee to her chest. This was where it all started. It all started with a promise. One day, when she was trapped, her hero would come save her. Cloud had told her he had broken that promise many times, but she always thought he followed through. He had been the one to move her off the stairs after Sephiroth slashed her and rest her against one of the experiment tanks in the reactor at Mt. Nibel. He had come for her, just like he promised. It didn't matter that she had already been sliced up; he was there, even if she didn't know it at the time. And he was there for AVALANCHE, though he hadn't wanted to help at first. He saved her countless times during their last adventure, and she knew he would have saved her from the gas chamber if he hadn't had Mako poisoning. He was there for her when no one else was, and it was he who caught her in the Northern Crater and got her to safety.

As she gazed up into the twinkling galaxy above her, her lips curled into a slight smile, the same smile she always had when she looked up at the stars. She was at peace, despite everything going on in her heart. The night sky reflected in her eyes as she became so lost in her memories that she didn't hear the rakish young Turk scaling the well in the twilight.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Reno asked as he plopped down next to her.

She startled.

"You wouldn't understand," she replied flatly.

"Try me."

Tifa let out a breath and leaned back on her hands, continuing to look upward instead of at Reno. He took the opportunity to examine her figure in the moonlight. Her shoulders were back, raising her chest; her back was slightly arched, accentuating her taut stomach, and her bent leg let her skirt rise up just enough to give him scandalous thoughts.

"It's just that…" she trailed off, snapping him back to reality. "I've just always liked watching the stars."

Reno nodded and looked up as well. Growing up in the slums, he didn't see the real sky until he was a Turk. After that, he was out on missions and never really cared to just sit around doing nothing, nor did he find beauty in sunsets and nature and all that girlie shit. Metal and power, that's what he loved. Looking up at the sky now, even though it was so different than he had ever seen before, still offered him nothing in the way of clarity.

"Why?" he asked her. "What's so great about them? They're just balls of gas waiting to explode."

Tifa scoffed and shook her head. "Told ya you wouldn't understand."

Reno smiled to himself and let his legs dangle over the ledge of the well, his hands clasped in his lap. "Hope I didn't hurt ya back there, thought we were tryin' to make it look real, yo."

Tifa's expression was stern when she shook her head. She released her leg and crossed it over her other one.

"Of course you didn't, I'm pretty tough, you know," she said simply. Reno could swear he detected a note of sweetness in her voice.

"Yeah, you are," he said, staring directly at her until she met his gaze. She sensed he wasn't just talking about their fight earlier.

An awkward silence fell between them. She didn't know how to respond to him, her mind clouded with angst over Cloud and the growing familiarity with Reno. Somehow his presence was comforting in this moment. She had rarely shared her stargazing with anyone else, preferring to take quiet time to reflect. Aerith had joined her once, and of course the flower girl figured out exactly how the stars enamored Tifa without even having to ask.

Sometimes Cloud had worried Tifa was depressed whenever she watched the stars, but after she explained to him why she loved to look up at the night sky, he began leaving her alone or occasionally bringing a blanket to wrap her in on cold nights along with hot cocoa. Every once in a while, he'd sit with her and she'd rest her head on his shoulder as they sat in comfortable silence.

"So, uh, how'd you like my mag rod this time?" he said seductively, testing the waters as to where her mood was currently.

Tifa snapped her head back to look at him. Her move was so intense Reno thought she might get whiplash. Her expression told him she had suspected he knew what he was doing with the weapon back in the basement. Reno chuckled.

"I think you liked it," he said matter-of-factly.

"I can't believe you."

"Who can? I'm a pretty unbelievable guy," he said, leaning back against the well with his hands behind his head, an air of smugness settling over him.

Tifa tightened her lips into a slight smile and stuck out her jaw. With one hand she pinched his side, hard, and with the other she pushed Reno off the well. He flailed and yelped on his way down, causing her to finally laugh openly. He scrambled back up next to her.

"Hey! What was that for?"

Tifa cocked her head to one side and looked at him with one cheek puffed out from sucking in the side of her lips.

"How did you even figure that out, wait—" she said, immediately holding up a hand before shaking her head. "I don't want to know."

"You wanna go again?" Reno asked, this time leaning over to look into her eyes with a grin on his face.

"No!" she protested.

"Had to try," he said, leaning back on his arms and looking up at the stars. "So, you wanna tell me what happened back there?"

Tifa brought her knee up to her chin again and wrapped her arms around her leg, her face dropping along with her mood.

"He didn't leave because of the headaches or nightmares, he just didn't want to be with me," she admitted, holding her breath to keep from crying. She still didn't know why she was opening up to _Reno_, of all people, but he seemed like the best option at the moment, sad as that was. Neither Vincent nor Rude ever had much to say, and she knew that if she were to pour her heart out only to get a grunt in response, she would totally lose it. Reno at least offered a potential conversation or smart aleck remark to take her mind off her anguish.

With everything going on in her life – the attacks, Cloud – she just wanted a little comfort. She just needed something stable. That certainly wasn't Reno, but at least he was here with her right now. She leaned her head against his shoulder, letting the fact that he was a Turk and her former enemy disappear for a moment.

Reno looked down at her, surprised by her action. He had come out here to bicker, have a little fun, and go back to his room. He hadn't expected her to seem so amenable to his presence.

He decided to take a chance and put his arm around her shoulders.

Well, this day had taken an odd turn. He never thought that he'd find Tifa Lockhart in his arms on this mission – twice. Elena had once called him the "Rebound King," though he dismissed her accusation. He didn't take advantage of drunk or sad women – he actually avoided them. No fun in the hunt if the prey is already wounded. Yet now he found himself truly wondering if Tifa was only seeking his embrace because of Cloud.

He couldn't deny the heat he felt throughout his body when he held her, even if he was trying to avoid it. Rude could leave the inn at any moment and catch them. Reno was finding it harder and harder to defer to his partner when it came to the woman beside him. It might have just been his ego, but she seemed to be warming up to him in a way she wasn't with Rude.

He only cuddled with women long enough for them to fall asleep or think they might have a future with him, then he'd disappear into the night. Sometimes he didn't even fake it and just rolled over and passed out or made an excuse to leave right then. Holding Tifa, however, was some new kind of feeling to him.

_Get out now man, before she casts her spell._

Nah, he would stay awhile longer. He straightened up his back to reaffirm his dignity.

"Where were you?" she asked softly, referring to his prolonged absence from her bar. Her question delighted him.

"Official business, yo," he offered. "You know, 'Turk stuff.'"

"So, how many people did you kill this time?" Tifa asked, lifting her head suddenly and looking at him accusatorially.

"You cut deep, Lady," he responded. "This is 'Turk stuff'; information gathering, non-violent. Like I said, we don't do that 'Turk shit' anymore."

"Right," she said, rolling her eyes.

She eyed him skeptically but kept the distance between them. Maybe he didn't kill people as part of his job anymore, but could he ever truly atone for what he had already done? She sat back up to look at the stars again, leaning back on her hands and crossing one leg over the other as another awkward silence filled the air.

"You know, I thought about you the whole time," he said, his voice heady. He was close enough for Tifa to smell his cologne – that musky scent that reminded her of the businessmen she would watch when she was a teenager, how they looked so confident and important. The scent was tainted with the stench of cigarettes, but it all added to his mystique to create something that was distinctly Reno.

Reno again chided himself for his lack of control around the barmaid. He couldn't say these things to her, even though he wanted her. Rude had dibs. He knew he needed to just walk away from her so that he would stop whatever it was he was doing, but he couldn't. Not yet, anyway.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, searching his eyes for confirmation that he was lying.

She knew how he operated, how he filled women's minds with ideas that he had eyes for only them when he didn't. She wasn't about to get sucked in, no matter how hard up she was or how much she missed Cloud and wished _he_ would tell her these things.

"Oh yeah," Reno repeated, without the question.

She sighed and looked back up at the stars. Reno wasn't going to weasel his way into her pants just because she was heartbroken and vulnerable from Cloud. She wouldn't forgive what he had done to her and her friends in the past so easily. Begrudging acceptance was all he would get from her.

"Gil for your thoughts, Lockhart?"

She didn't answer for a few moments. When she did, she kept her eyes fixated on the sky.

"Everything. The past. What's going on with all the monsters. What's going to happen…" she said.

"A little vague, Lockhart," Reno responded. "We'll figure out the monster situation. The Turks are on it."

That didn't provide her any comfort.

"What then?" she asked softly, as if she were trying not to cry.

Reno suspected they weren't talking about the increase in monster attacks. Somehow it always came back to Strife. Maybe he should let her use him as a rebound, just so she could be more open to Rude. Nah, that was a selfish thought.

He hoped she wouldn't return to her question. He knew he should leave her now. He could tell she was in a "mood" and this just wasn't his department. Rude would probably be good with this stuff. He was a good listener. But Reno didn't want to leave Tifa right now. For one thing, Rude could come out any moment and take over. For another, being next to her felt _good_.

It was a strange feeling to him. He would have much preferred to be doing something else with her instead of sitting next to her while she wallowed in misery.

"I should go…" she said after another prolonged silence.

Reno had to resist the urge to ask her to stay. He had already gone too far today and needed to figure out how to get her out of his head so Rude would have a chance. Going cold turkey might not be possible, but if he could refocus his efforts into pushing her toward his partner, maybe he could keep their friendship intact.

Tifa hopped off the well when Reno didn't object and walked toward the inn.

"Good night, Lockhart," he said in a tone she wasn't used to from the Turk.

"Good night, Reno," she said before entering the inn.

Reno stared after her a moment, his thin legs spread wide and dangling over the edge of the well, his hands clasped together between his knees. A smile graced his lips – not his usual smirk, but a genuine smile. He looked up at the stars, trying again to glean from them whatever knowledge and inspiration Tifa was able to receive. He came up empty.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa opened the door to her hotel room to find Vincent in his half-awake, half-sleeping state on the bed. He was there, but something was missing: All the documents they collected that day from the Shinra mansion. They had been sitting on Tifa's bed since there was no desk in the room, but they were gone.

"Vincent!" she yelled, snapping him awake. "Where are the files?"

Vincent looked around for a moment, unconcerned.

"I thought you took them."

"What?"

"They were gone when I got out of the shower, thought you went somewhere to study them."

"Why would I do that?"

Vincent shrugged. He could really be dense sometimes.

"You didn't hear anything?"

"No. I was in the shower."

Tifa rubbed her forehead. _The Turks_. Reno was acting sort of sweet just to distract her while Rude stole the information. She wondered why Reno was the distraction instead of Rude. Maybe the quieter Turk was still too nervous to be around her.

How could she think for one minute that Reno was being sincere? Everything was an act; a ploy to get her into bed. He had acted like he might actually _care_ about her out there on the well and when he held her in the basement of the mansion.

_Of course_ it was a ruse. Nothing about Reno was honest. He wanted to sleep with her and nothing else; his loyalties still lay with Shinra.

Her phone vibrated.

"1 text message from Reno."

She rolled her eyes and checked it.

"Sorry, about this, too," was all it said.

He was a rat, alright. A scoundrel. He wanted her? Well, he wouldn't have her.


	13. Ruthless

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 7/3/2020: Chapter almost entirely rewritten since it has been affected by changes in previous chapters.**

Chapter 13:

"Are you feeling okay, partner?"

Reno snapped his head to look at Rude, surprised by the question. He had been tapping his foot along with the music in the elevator and drumming the fingers of his left hand on the handrail as they traveled to Rufus' floor. It was the same thing he'd always done in elevators – minus the snarky conversation.

"Yeah, why would you ask?"

"I don't know, you just haven't seemed like yourself since we got back from Nibelheim."

They'd been back in Edge for a few days now and hadn't gone to Seventh Heaven; too ashamed to show their faces after stealing the documents Tifa and Vincent had obtained from the Shinra mansion. Rude was in a mood that only Reno could detect as being sour. The bald Turk hadn't gotten an answer to his date question from Tifa before the Nibelheim trip and was certain the answer would be "no" now.

Reno had been uncharacteristically quiet since they returned, his mind swirling with thoughts of his time spent with the barmaid in Nibelheim and how even though nothing serious had happened, he felt like he had betrayed his best friend. For the first time in his life, he was afraid of what he might say if he spoke. He had tried to push her from his mind, but there she was, any moment he didn't have something to do – and the past few days had been slow around the office.

"Nah, I'm good," he said lazily and unconvincingly.

Rude eyed his partner from over the frames of his dark glasses, searching for a hint as to what was bothering Reno. He knew it had something to do with Nibelheim, but Reno wouldn't explain.

It had been Rude who spied Tifa out on the well that night in Nibelheim and, after a quick joke from the redhead about Vincent "sleeping like the dead," decided to send Reno out to distract her, since the bald Turk was too nervous to approach. When Rude left Tifa's room with the documents, he looked back out the window at the well and saw that Tifa was angry at Reno about something, but the older Turk just chalked it up to his partner making some stupid comment.

"When was the last time you got laid?" Rude asked Reno after the redhead went silent again. He thought at the very least it would get Reno to start talking again – the man loved to brag about his latest conquests. Lately, however, Rude had noticed Reno either had no conquests to boast about or simply no longer spoke about them.

"None of your business, _partner_."

Rude pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose and folded his arms. A smirk crossed his lips ever so briefly.

"That long, huh?"

Reno thought back to his last one-night stand. It was months ago, just before he and Rude started chatting up Tifa. He pulled at his already loose collar, hoping Rude hadn't noticed that as well.

"Maybe I'm maturing," he said, pronouncing the hard "T." He had turned 30 during that time, maybe it was like a wall that would close him off from his previous dating past and open up a new future for him.

"I remember a time, not two years ago, when you told me that if you ever became a hopeless romantic like Cloud Strife that I should punch you in the face," Rude offered as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

"Don't worry about me, partner, that ain't my style," Reno replied.

He should probably find a woman to bed soon; it'd hopefully take his mind off Tifa anyway and help him deal with some of this pent-up frustration. Late night fantasies just didn't cut it.

The two Turks walked down the hall and past Rufus' receptionist, who motioned for them to go ahead and enter the president's office.

"Found anything useful yet, boss?" Reno asked cheerfully as he and Rude entered.

The president of Shinra had mountains of papers and files stacked around his office and on his desk and was at that very moment looking over a document. Though neither Reno nor Rude had seen him leave his office – or even look up from Hojo's research – in days, he looked as well-groomed and debonair as always.

"No," Rufus said, without acknowledging the Turks' presence. "Thanks to your overzealous acquisition."

"Haven't the new scientists been looking over it?" Reno asked.

He hated when Rufus belittled his work. The president's father may have been a hard man, but Rufus was every bit as ruthless, and he seemed to have an especially sore spot for Reno specifically. Reno knew that if he and Rude _hadn't_ brought back as much from the old Shinra building, Rufus would have been just as irritated with them. They couldn't win.

"They have, but remember we don't have as many as we had in Midgar," Rufus turned over a page. "Most of our staff lived on the upper plate, so they were killed during Meteor."

Rufus rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and ring finger, then stood up to face the Turks, who had approached his desk.

"I'd like the two of you to take some of these documents and give them a thorough read for something useful," Rufus said, motioning to a smaller stack of files that had been separated from the rest.

It was the last thing Reno wanted to do, and he knew Rude wouldn't be too keen on the assignment either. First, they were turned into delivery boys and now they were readers? What was next, getting Rufus' coffee? Reno imagined Tseng wasn't being forced to read through all this stuff.

"Tseng and Elena have already been working through what you brought from Nibelheim," Rufus said, as if he were reading Reno's mind. "Good work getting everything from AVALANCHE, by the way."

It was one of those rare compliments from Rufus that made Reno think he wasn't on the verge of getting fired. He looked at Rude, who offered no expression of commiseration, before walking to the stack of boxes. He plopped down on the ground, cross-legged, and began sifting through a file.

"In your _own_ office," Rufus insisted.

The president didn't see Reno's look of dissatisfaction, but nonetheless, the Turk complied. He stood up and grabbed one of the file boxes while Rude grabbed the other two and headed for the door.

"And Reno," Rufus said.

Oh no, not again. Here it comes. What unfair limitation was the president going to place on him this time?

"Try not to antagonize the barmaid, she's our best source of information on AVALANCHE."

Reno shot Rude a nasty look as they left Rufus' office.

"The fuck, yo?" he said once they were in the receptionist's area.

"I told him they attacked us and we retaliated, that's all," Rude said, without a hint of guilt or persuasion in his voice.

"Still, man, he's always gotta get that shot in, ya know?"

Rude grunted in response.

The duo returned to the Turks' office several floors down. Elena was at her desk, dutifully examining documents. Ever the overachiever, Elena had her own notebook filled with impressions, speculation, and quotes from the information she had reviewed. Reno could see colorful tabs stuck to the pages and a brand new pack of different colored highlighters on her desk. He bet she was a teacher's pet in school, too.

He gave her a sneer as he passed by her desk – which she didn't notice – before dropping his box of papers on his own desk at the back of the room. Tseng had his own office attached to the room, but Reno, being second-in-command, had the largest desk of the three remaining Turks. In the old Shinra building he also had his own office. If those walls could talk… Probably why Rufus wouldn't let him have an office to himself in the new building.

Not that Reno hadn't made use of his desk after hours when everyone else had gone home, of course. He had to break in that shiny new desk _somehow_, and he refused to bring women back to his apartment. Couldn't let them know where he lived, in case they got a little _too_ attached.

Reno sat down at his chair and propped his feet up on the desk, flipping through a file with zero interest. He rolled his head back and looked up at the ceiling to let out a groan. Rude had just accepted Rufus' orders and was quietly reviewing materials at his own desk.

Reno felt he should make an effort like everyone else and picked up the file once again. He was able to read the first paragraph before the words started blurring in front of him and he lost concentration due to boredom and annoyance. He looked up at the clock. _7:58 p.m._ He had been staring at the same piece of paper for two hours.

He had gotten through one entire file, though he wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what he read. His mind kept wandering back to Tifa and the way she had reached out for him back in Nibelheim. It was really the only thing he had thought about since they left the village. He just couldn't get that woman out of his head.

"I think it's time for a drink, yo," Reno said.

"Where do you want to go tonight?" Rude asked.

They had tried to find a new bar for the past couple days, like they had when they'd been unceremoniously kicked out of Seventh Heaven before, but nothing felt quite as inviting as their usual haunt. Even though some of the other bars had attractive bartenders, none of them had the quick wit or world-saving experience of Tifa Lockhart. The Turks had traveled the world and fought any number of battles, so they sometimes failed to connect with people who had been more or less sheltered.

"Think it's time to head back to Seventh Heaven?" Reno suggested. Rude sighed.

"She's probably still mad," he replied.

"Wasn't it you who said you would keep trying to apologize? Do you really want to sulk around some _other_ bar again tonight?"

"Not really."

"Then we might as well get this over with."

Rude grunted in begrudging approval and set down the file he had been reading. Both men stood up from their desks and headed for the door, though neither looked particularly excited.

Elena just rolled her eyes. Reno and Rude kept bottles of liquor in their desks and had been pouring drinks since they came back to the office with their own pile of documents.

She had also sensed something happened in Nibelheim that Reno didn't want to talk about. She couldn't say for sure what had led to it, but Reno had an unmistakable look of guilt plastered to his face since they returned to Edge. She somehow didn't think it had to do with stealing the documents.

The night shift at the Edge police department was somehow better than the day shift, as there always seemed to be fewer monsters on the streets. Even still, the Turks has to battle some fiends they recognized from the southern continent.

Reno held up his hand to halt Rude once they were outside Seventh Heaven. He sidled up to the front window to peer in before entering.

"Just wanna check what kinda mood she's in," he said, squinting unnecessarily.

She was standing behind the bar talking to a customer. She looked… ravishing, like she did back when Cloud was still around and they were a couple. _Maybe he came back?_ She was smiling, confident, and natural – a far cry different than she had been the last time the Turks saw her.

"How does she look?" Rude asked quietly, as if Tifa would be able to hear them from inside.

Reno gave Rude a "thumbs up," rather than say what was actually on his mind. Rude nodded and the two men entered the bar.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa had enough. She woke up that morning determined to stop moping over Cloud, even though their encounter had been just a few days earlier. She had resumed crying herself to sleep at night and hiding her tears from customers at the bar by stowing away in the storage room. She'd avoided Marle's orphanage to keep herself from bringing the older woman down again with her problems. She zoned out at the theater while trying to hold herself together.

She was tired of feeling this way and letting Cloud get to her. She didn't want to be some pathetic, heartbroken woman who struggled to function without a man in her life. She needed to do something for herself, something to boost her confidence. As silly as it was, she remembered the last time she needed such a boost was in the Sector 7 slums after Cloud had agreed to go out with her to celebrate their reunion.

She had been devastated after she watched him plummet from the Sector 5 reactor, but she somehow knew he hadn't died. She had just gotten him back into her life, she didn't think she would lose him so quickly. To take her mind off his disappearance (back then) she had enlisted Marle's help to find an outfit for her night out with Cloud.

_Flashback…_

"What did he suggest?" Marle asked again when they were in the clothing store in Wall Market.

"He said…. 'something refined,'" Tifa reiterated, unsure herself what that really meant. "What does that mean? Elegant?"

"That's what I would imagine," Marle answered. "But he's a man – and a SOLDIER at that – let's spice it up a little bit."

"You don't think…" Tifa giggled, "he'd buy a suit, do you?"

"Can you picture him in a suit with that big sword on his back?" Marle chuckled with the younger girl.

"No, I suppose not. Okay let's look for something nice, but eye catching."

The two women began sifting through items on the clothing racks, sliding hangers along the bar and occasionally studying a dress to see if it fit Cloud's request.

"How about this?" Marle asked, holding up a floor-length red gown with a high slit along the side.

"That's beautiful, but I think it might be _too_ fancy," Tifa said.

Marle checked the price tag. "It's also _way_ out of our price range," she said, putting the dress back on the rack.

They continued searching, finding a couple pink options that Tifa dismissed since she had told Cloud they weren't kids anymore. There were also a few overly fussy gowns with ruffles and ballroom skirts that again seemed like overkill. Tifa held out a hanger with a short black kimono dress on it.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked Marle.

The older woman tilted her head and brought her hand to her chin as she studied it.

"Hmm, I think that's more exotic than refined," she said.

"Well, I clearly don't know what he meant then," Tifa said, shoving the dress back on the rack in frustration. This was going to be her big night with Cloud, the boy she hadn't stop thinking about since he made a promise to her and left to join SOLDIER. She wanted to impress him, and he said he wanted her to look refined.

"Don't get discouraged, Tifa," Marle soothed. "Here, look at this one. The blue will really bring out the color in _his_ eyes – and you'd look good in any color."

Tifa let go of the fabric between her fingers to see what Marle had found. Marle was holding the end of a short, low-cut blue dress with an open back. Tifa thought she must be joking at first.

"Seriously Marle?" she asked, but the older woman just looked at her with sincerity. "Do you think that could be considered refined topside?"

"I think it will be _considered_ by Cloud," Marle said suggestively. Tifa giggled.

"I'll try it on," she said, taking the dress from Marle and heading into a fitting room. A few minutes later she popped her head out, trying to get Marle's attention. "Psst, Marle! Do you think they have a bigger size?"

"That's the only one I saw," Marle replied. "Let's see how it looks."

Tifa pulled the curtain to the dressing room open and walked out, tugging at the hem of the dress. She felt like she was wearing lingerie rather than an actual dress, but Marle seemed enthused.

"He's gonna _love_ it," the older woman said. Tifa smiled wider than she expected as her cheeks flushed.

"You think so?" she asked, turning around to get a look at the back of the dress in the mirror. It was shorter than her normal black skirt, and the only thing holding the dress on her was the halter clasp behind her neck. She did like to imagine Cloud's face when he saw her in it – if he ever came back.

"I know so," Marle said, her eyelids heavy. "A boy like Cloud won't know what to say when he sees you in that."

Tifa couldn't help but blush harder. _A boy like Cloud?_ She realized she didn't even know what Marle meant by that, but she trusted the older woman's judgment.

"I think I have enough gil for this one…" Tifa said, rifling through her purse at the checkout counter after she had changed back. The young man working the register had his eyes fixated on her, nearly popping out of his head. He had seen her come out of the dressing room wearing the blue dress.

"If not I'll take care of the rest," Marle said, stepping up beside Tifa.

"Oh, no, you don't have to—"

"I insist. I want you to be happy."

"Thanks, Marle."

Tifa had tried the dress on about a half-dozen more times when she got home, practicing her laugh and responses to what Cloud might say to her. She wanted to play it cool. "Oh, this old thing?" she'd say if he asked about the dress. She was just changing back into her regular clothes for the fifth time when she heard a commotion outside.

_Present Day…_

Tifa remembered how confident she felt in that dress when she was waiting for Cloud and how Marle had lifted her spirits after he fell from the plate. She knew that what she needed right now was to do something just for herself.

She gave the orphans a lesson that morning, apologizing for being away so long. They missed her, so she promised not to go so long between sessions unless it was an emergency. Being around the kids definitely took her mind off of everything else in her life and she didn't want to spend any more time wallowing in self-pity back home.

"Hey Marle, you busy today?" she asked the older woman after she had served their customary tea.

"The tutor will be here soon, so the children will be in lessons all afternoon. What do you need?"

"Remember way back when – in Midgar – when you helped me find that perfect dress?"

"Of course I do, you looked so good in that dress."

"Do you think you could help me pick out something new?"

Tifa hadn't seen the Turks since Nibelheim. Good riddance, after what they had done. She would have thought they'd be in the bar immediately after to gloat about their theft. Still, without them she had lost consistent customers, and she thought they had grown friendly. Reno even seemed to give her the slightest hint that there was more to him than sex and Shinra before confirming that, no, there wasn't when he and Rude stole everything she and Vincent had discovered in the Shinra manor.

As cliché as it seemed, she knew the new outfit would put her in a better mood.

She rarely went shopping, finding the practice more exhausting than a battle with, well, the Turks. Clothing makers never seemed to make anything that fit her particular body shape. If she wanted something that hugged the curves of her abdomen, her breasts would pop out. If she got something that fit her breasts, it'd hang off her midsection like she was hiding a pregnancy bump. It's frankly why she wore so many crop tops – they'd fit her upper body and she wouldn't have to worry about her midsection.

She also wasn't looking for something that didn't match her style as she didn't plan on wearing this outfit only once. Instead, she asked Marle to help "remake" her. She would be her classic self, but with a twist that would make her appear fresh and, possibly, bring in more tips to replace Rude's.

She and Marled picked out a new white tank top with extra support that sported a neckline low enough to give a hint of cleavage, but high enough to hide her scar. Her new miniskirt was pleated and made of black leather, looser than she was used to, like something a schoolgirl might wear (except much, much shorter). She purchased a new pair of comfy red ankle boots and instead of her usual black socks she decided to go with black thigh-high stockings, which Marle had suggested to help protect her legs from the monster attacks (and draw more attention from men).

She thanked Marle for her help and returned to Seventh Heaven to prepare the bar for opening. She tied her long hair near the end to keep it from flowing _everywhere_ and even though she usually didn't wear much makeup, she was sure to put on some mascara and a little powder to give her a special glow.

She checked herself out in the mirror and couldn't help but smile. She felt rejuvenated, like a whole new person even though the difference was minor. She was always happy to open the bar since it meant taking her mind off of Cloud, but she was especially excited tonight.

She sauntered to her place behind the counter once it was opened and kept up her cheerful and flirtatious mood as customers asked about her new look. She welcomed the compliments but despised the crude comments of some patrons. Either way, her mind was free of a certain chocobo-headed loner.

She thought she would escape the Turks' presence for a while longer, but sure enough, tonight was the night her luck ran out. The two thieves sauntered in around 8:30 and took up their usual seats, ignoring the scowl she shot their way. Reno flung his arm over the back of his seat and tapped his other fingers on the countertop, mentally rehearsing his first snarky comment. He needed to get in one good shot before smoothing things over for Rude. He just couldn't help himself.

Words seemed to fail him, however, when she appeared in front of him across the bar in her new outfit. He hadn't even noticed she was wearing anything different from his view on the other side of the window, so focused was he on her face – shockingly. He imagined this was how Rude felt every day of his life – unable to say more than a few words at a time. The expression on her face was breezy and wicked, similar to his own usual expression, except more feminine and alluring.

His eyes lingered at her breasts, of course. Her new tank top did provide more support, but really it just lifted her assets to a pleasing height. He could see the fabric stretched between them, holding on for dear life, just aching to let go and tear open. He was not a religious man, and was not prone to praying, but in that moment, he prayed for the fabric to fail.

He hadn't seen her walk out from behind the bar, so he hadn't seen her lower body just yet, but he could feel something was different about her other than the struggling shirt. She was carrying herself different, like a female Reno, with a swagger about her he hadn't seen before. He didn't see Cloud around, which would explain her newfound fortitude, so he wondered what was going on. When she approached them, however, her entire demeanor changed. She looked about as enthused to see them as she had been in the early days of the bar.

"You've got some nerve coming in here after that stunt you pulled in Nibelheim," she growled, crossing her arms over her chest and taking away Reno's pleasant view.

Rude held his head in shame, studying the grain of the wooden bar.

"It was not our decision," he offered. Tifa didn't accept his explanation.

"It was just business, yo," Reno said, resting an elbow on the bar and casually waving his other hand. "Besides, you should be thanking us."

Tifa and Rude both looked at him; Tifa with malignant confusion and Rude with simple concern over what the redhead would say next.

"Trust me, you do _not_ want to be reading all that crap – and now you don't have to," Reno continued.

Tifa was not persuaded. "I _wanted_ to read 'that crap.' We're trying to save the planet, you know."

Reno propped his head up on his hand. "Eh, let Shinra handle the boring part, I'm sure your AVALANCHE cronies'll let you know when the fighting starts."

Tifa fumed. She looked almost ready to kick them out of the bar again. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The two Turks watched her chest rise and fall with interest as she calmed herself. When she opened her eyes again, her expression lifted. She didn't smile, but she no longer looked on the verge of rage.

"You're paying customers, so I won't throw you out, but whatever goodwill you had built is gone," she said before turning her back to reach for two tumblers.

Reno's eyes followed her, though she said nothing more to him or Rude, clearly incensed by their trickery in Nibelheim. She placed two glasses in front of the Turks before quickly turning around to grab the liquor bottle they each preferred. Reno was now able to see the rest of her, and he blew air out of his mouth in approval, trying to keep from whistling or yowling. He liked what he saw; he liked that her skirt looked like it would give him easy access to what was underneath. And those thigh-high stockings! It was enough to drive him wild.

He liked when she was like this, even if it meant she was angry at him and Rude. At least she wasn't distraught over Strife anymore. Despite her earlier comments, he thought he might be able to smooth things over with her – for Rude, of course.

And then he saw his chance. Rude left to use the restroom, and Tifa was unfortunately positioned behind the bar at the moment.

"You look good tonight, doll," he said to her even though she had his back to him. It was a view he didn't mind.

"Thank you," she said while reaching for various liquor bottles to pour into a mixed drink.

She didn't acknowledge his presence; didn't even turn to give him a smile. Crafty. He kept his eyes trained on her, waiting for her to make even the quickest eye contact, but she wouldn't.

"Definitely prettier than those stars in Nibelheim."

She stopped for the briefest of moments before shrugging off his comment. He knew that one would stick with her. If she was trying to get back at him and Rude for Nibelheim, he had to be two steps ahead. And he was _always_ two steps ahead.

Rude returned and resumed his drinking without saying a word. Tifa was out delivering drinks to other patrons, moving her hips more as she walked, like she had done the day after she had the sex dream.

She refused to acknowledge the two Turks for the rest of the evening but continued slinging drinks their way whenever they were empty. Around 11 o'clock, Rude stood up to pay, his expression glum.

"You should stay, you haven't even tried to win her over," Reno chided as Rude placed a larger-than-usual stack of gil on the counter.

"Forget it man, we blew it," he said before slinking out of the bar without waiting for Reno.

The redhead watched him leave, considering his options. He could go console Rude, or he could stay and hopefully get Tifa to forgive them—Rude. He chose the latter.

Tifa's gaze had shifted to the door when Rude left, the chimes above alerting her to the movement. She was briefly relieved until she saw Reno still sitting at the bar, an empty glass in hand. She groaned and walked to his end of the bar to refill his drink.

"You know we didn't want to do that," he said after taking a sip of his freshly poured scotch.

"Do what? Break into my room and steal my hard work?" she seethed.

"Yeah, that," Reno said, pointing his index finger toward her while continuing to stare into his drink. "Rufus really wants to help the planet, but he still has a Shinra way of doing things."

"And you two? Still 'just following orders'?" she snapped.

Reno rolled his eyes back along with his head. She wasn't going to make this easy.

"Look, Lockhart, I'm tellin' you, that shit is boring _as hell_ to read, and that's what my life is gonna be the next week or so. You don't want that."

"What I don't want is to be lied to, manipulated, and stolen from," she shot back. "You told me you weren't doing that 'Turk shit' anymore."

The slightest twinkle appeared in Reno's eye. _Manipulated_? Did she think his kindness had been manipulation? Does that mean she _had_ been responding to him?

"Nobody died," he said calmly. She didn't relent. "Okay," he looked around to see if anyone was listening before leaning forward and lowering his voice, "we'll let you know if we find anything of value."

Tifa scoffed. Another promise from a Turk, and she had about had it up to _here_ with promises – from anyone.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I really, really hate having to read that crap. Seriously, I'd rather be on patrol duty like some grunt."

Tifa was called out to a table for another round of drinks. After she served the customers, she ignored the Turk as much as she could until closing time, when he stood his ground despite other patrons leaving. He had that look about him telling her he wanted to unburden himself again. She wanted to kick him to the curb, but figured she'd listen to his grousing like a good bartender and see what he would say to try and patch things up with her. It had better be good.

"Why do you guys keep doing things for Shinra if you don't want to?" she asked after the bar cleared and Reno was staring at half a drink.

He scratched his neck behind his ear. "Short answer? The money. Long answer? Also money, but, ah, never mind." He stopped scratching and rubbed the back of his neck instead. Tifa's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

Reno rolled his head, cracking his neck. He'd opened up to her a little before but this went beyond a little small talk about growing up. This was something only Rude knew – but he knew he'd have to let her in if he hoped to earn her trust and forgiveness… for everything.

"Shinra may have done a lot of shitty things, but it also helped a lot of people, yanno?"

Tifa said nothing. She understood what he was saying in concept: Shinra provided power which let a lot of people live comfortable lives, but it torched cities to cover up its own failures and paid the press to look the other way.

"Like, giving two worthless gangbangers from the slums a chance to make something of themselves."

"Kill people for money? How is that any better"

"Dammit, Lockhart, I'm trying here, okay?" Reno's words carried a bit of venom. "If it weren't for Shinra, Rude and I probably would have died when we were kids, and my fam—" he stopped himself. "We never woulda had a chance."

Tifa stayed silent, considering his words. Reno seemed to sense what she was thinking.

"And alla that crap Shinra did? It woulda all still happened whether Rude and I were there or not."

"Why not walk away?"

"Do you know what would happen to someone – anyone – who stood up to Shinra? We'd be hunted 'til the end of our days and shot like animals."

"I was there at the pillar, I heard you in the helicopter."

"Then you heard our hesitation and how clear we made it we were being forced to lie for Shinra."

"I remember you trying to kill me and Cloud and taunting us."

"All for show. Shinra's always watching and listening. You know what Tseng said to us when we were sulking afterward?"

"Sulking?"

"I know words, Lockhart."

"Go on."

"He said if we hadn't followed through, someone else would have done it and that 'we spared that someone of the burden of a guilty conscience.'"

"You didn't really buy that, did you?"

"Of course not, but he was right. Like I said, all that crap would have happened no matter what.

Maybe it was the alcohol in his system or maybe it was the fact she wasn't responding to his attempts to explain their circumstances, but Reno finished his drink and prepared to admit more.

"I was savin' up, thinkin' I could leave some day. Just disappear and never look back."

"And Rude? Why did he push the button and steal our documents?"

"To protect me and Tseng, and now Elena. We're the only family we got, yanno? Like you with your AVALANCHE buddies."

Tifa hadn't considered the possibility that the Turks were their own makeshift family doing whatever was necessary to protect themselves.

"We've all got blood on our hands, Lockhart," Reno continued, holding up his palms to study them as if he could see the blood. "It just washes off some of us better than others."

That one hit close to home. Tifa had always felt responsible for the innocent people who died while AVALANCHE was in operation – from the civilians who lived near the reactors that were blown up to the Shinra grunts who just needed a job to support their families.

Reno knew how Tifa felt about her own actions back then. He had once heard a low-level Shinra manager bragging about how he was on the train with AVALANCHE when they were going to blow up the Sector 5 reactor. The man said he helped get people to safety. Reno's ears had perked up when the manager mentioned that a member of AVALANCHE, a "hot chick with a big rack" tried to help, too. After meeting Tifa atop the pillar, Reno realized she must have been the one mentioned by the manager.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Tifa asked after it seemed like Reno was done confessing.

"Because we want forgiveness, too," he said. "And… you should really give Rude a chance."

Tifa scoffed. "And why should I do that?"

"Cuz he's the best of us. Yeah, he does his job well, but he questions orders and does what he can to make sure people don't get hurt. Yanno, he jerked my head into the side of the helicopter trying to stop me from shooting you on that pillar."

He said it even though it made him look bad. At this point he knew that if he didn't try to push Tifa toward Rude he wouldn't be able to stop flirting with her and he'd end up hurting his best friend.

"He did?"

"Why do you think you're alive right now?"

"I always thought you were just a bad shot."

Reno laughed. Great, Rude had made him look like an idiot in front of AVALANCHE. Not that the multiple beatings from them had helped his reputation with the group.

"He always had a soft spot for you. Ever notice how he wouldn't hit you? Just deflect?"

"I did notice that… when I wasn't in one of your damn pyramids."

Reno ran his fingers through his hair. She didn't seem to have noticed _why_ she was always in a pyramid.

"So, that means were going easy on us? I always thought you just weren't that good," she added when he didn't respond.

It was Reno's turn to scoff. "To be fair, _Missy_," he pointed an accusatory finger at her, "_I_ was weakened from a fight with Boy Wonder the day before – and you may recall the helicopter crash got me, too."

Tifa brought a finger to her chin in thought. "Oh yeah, I remember Cloud telling me how he kicked your ass in the church."

"Guess he left out the part about how he barely made it out alive himself."

Cloud had told her Reno was tough. He didn't hit hard, but he was lightning fast and nearly impossible to strike. Hearing something like that from Cloud, with his inhuman reflexes, really struck her. It didn't prepare her for her fights with Reno on the pillar and in Gongaga, though. It was something she had to experience.

"Want help cleanin' tonight?" Reno asked after a brief pause.

"As long as you don't steal anything," Tifa snapped, though her eyes contained mirth.

Reno held up his hands in defense. "Wouldn't dream of it, but if you feel like grinding against me again, I'm all for it."

"I did not _grind_ against you," Tifa scolded as she grabbed a broom and started sweeping.

"Sure, Lockhart, sure," Reno said before collecting the trash so Tifa could wipe down the tables.

When they were finished placing the chairs on the tables, Reno scratched the back of his head as Tifa stood awkwardly nearby. He spoke before she could kick him out.

"Seriously though, you should give Rude a chance," he said.

"Why are you so insistent on this?" she asked, returning to the bar.

"He's the best of us, like I said, and I want him to be happy."

"I'll think about it."

"You should, there's only one person in this world who deserves to be happy more than him," Reno said, heading for the door.

"Oh yeah? Who's that?"

He didn't turn back toward her as his hand rested on the doorknob. She couldn't see the smirk that crept onto his lips.

"Goodnight, Lockhart," he said before opening the door and disappearing into the night.

Tifa stared after him a bit, trying to figure out what he meant. She didn't think he could possibly be referring to her as being more deserving of happiness, but that seemed to be what he was implying.

She lay in bed for hours after she went through her nighttime ritual, unable to sleep, unable to get Reno's admissions out of her head. _Was he telling the truth?_ It certainly cast him and the rest of the Turks in a whole new light, but was it enough for her to forgive them for what they had done?

Reno was again an enigma. He'd made several flirtatious comments toward her but then spent the evening pushing her toward Rude. It didn't make sense.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno fell back onto his bed, a bottle of cheap liquor in one hand. It spilled a little when he hit the sheets, but he soon brought it to his mouth and held it upright again. He'd never opened up like that to anyone else. Even Rude only saw glimpses of Reno's humanity at various points, not all at once.

Tifa seemed to draw it out of him without trying and he couldn't figure out why. He understood now why Rude liked her, even if he didn't see the point. He eventually drank until he passed out, knowing he was in for a pounding headache in the morning.

_The next day…_

Reno managed to drag Rude back to Seventh Heaven after an agonizingly long day of reading through Hojo's research documents. The bald Turk had been insisting he had no shot with Tifa and that she would say "no" after what they did in Nibelheim. Reno was determined not to let his best friend carry on in such a sour mood. Either Tifa would say "yes" thanks to Reno's admissions the night before, or she'd say "no" and Rude could finally move on.

Reno – and Elena, though she wouldn't admit it outright – had grown tired of Rude's years-long crush and the insecurities that came with it. They needed to snap him back into "Turk mode."

They took their customary seats at the bar. Tifa served them willingly, having lost the edge she carried with her the previous night. Rude thought the tenuous truce had returned, but he didn't know how and suspected Reno had something to do with it – which raised his concerns. Tifa was flittering around the bar as if something had made her happy. Rude couldn't imagine – didn't want to imagine – that had been thanks to Reno, yet here she was, a complete 180 from the night before.

On about his third scotch, Tifa placed her hands on the countertop in front of him and smiled sweetly at him.

"You know Rude," her words honeyed, "I think I _would_ like to go on a date with you."

Reno's eyes snapped to his partner. She had actually done it. She had actually taken his advice and agreed to go out with Rude. So, why wasn't he excited for his friend?

Rude nearly choked on his drink when she spoke. He thought she had just been nice when she told him she'd think about it. He had accepted that she could never look at him the way he looked at her, or the way she looked at Cloud. He had tried for years to get over his hopeless crush, tried to pursue other women – even given in to women who pursued him. But he couldn't get Tifa out of his head. She was one of the few non-male monks he had ever met, and one of the few who could match (or outmatch, though he wouldn't admit) his skills.

"Sounds good," he said, for once actually trying to contain emotions.

Tifa had always considered Rude's date request, though their treachery in Nibelheim certainly made her reconsider even the possibility until Reno spoke to her the night before. Rude actually cared about her. Though she could have sworn Reno had admitted those things to her the night before to try to ingratiate himself with the barmaid, he kept mentioning Rude. Tifa suspected the redhead hadn't forgiven _himself_ for his past and that despite his cocky attitude, actually felt he wasn't worthy of forgiveness.

She wondered what was behind that cold exterior of Rude's. Reno certainly saw something in his comrade, as they were almost always together. Maybe Reno just liked to hear himself talk, but maybe, just maybe, Rude was hiding a personality behind those dark sunglasses.

He also wasn't bad looking, even if Tifa preferred wild spiky hair, preferably blonde.

Reno waited until Tifa turned away from him and Rude again before whipping around in his chair – fast enough for Rude to make a mental note. The redhead was surprised Tifa had actually listened to him. He had kind of wished she wouldn't, though he was kicking himself for such thoughts.

His chest felt heavy; his ears burned. He didn't feel like he thought he would. He thought his own attractions for the barmaid would go right out the window if he helped Rude get a date with her. But now that he had accomplished that, he just felt empty and lost.

He hadn't picked up a woman in several months; maybe that was the reason for this cavity he felt in his stomach.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," he said, standing up and patting Rude on the shoulder. "Congratulations, man."

Rude's brows knitted above his sunglasses as he watched his partner leave the bar. It was only 8 p.m. His concern for Reno dissipated when Tifa came near him at the bar once again, consumed with his own merriment, though no one could see it.

"So, Rude, how are you going to make up for that little caper in Nibelheim?" Tifa asked.

Rude hadn't actually figured out where he would take her on their date. He had been thinking about it since the second she accepted, but nothing seemed good enough. Edge had some fine dining establishments, but they didn't yet compare to those in Junon or Wutai.

"Do, do you have a favorite restaurant?" he asked, his head tilted toward the bar as he cradled his drink.

"I've been to The Golden Chocobo once" – with Cloud – "it was _amazing_. I've always wanted to go back," she said, clearly reminiscing.

Rude was no dummy, he realized she must have gone there with Cloud, even though she didn't come out and say it. But she had been with Cloud for years, and he only took her there once? Definitely an opening.

"The Golden Chocobo it is, then," he said, trying to smile. It wasn't that he wasn't happy, he just wasn't used to using his face muscles.

Tifa clasped her hands in front of her chest and beamed. She had never been to such a nice restaurant before Cloud took her there for their one-year anniversary. She saw food there she – being a talented cook herself – had never even dreamed about. The dessert especially: A perfectly shaped volcano of chocolate cake with a thin yellow sugar crisp in the shape of a chocobo stuck on top. Drizzled with a white chocolate raspberry ganache. Decadent as _fuck_. Cloud was never one for sweets, but his eyes rolled into the back of his head when Tifa fed him a piece of that cake.

"I can't wait," she said.

"Would it be too difficult to go Saturday night?" Rude asked. Tifa thought for a moment.

"I could close early," she offered.

"So, maybe a late dinner, around 9?"

"Do you think you could get a table on such short notice?"

Rude was not prone to bragging, but Tifa had just opened the door for him. Reno would have taken a mile, but Rude was more subtle.

"I don't think it'll be a problem once I say I'll be bringing a member of AVALANCHE." In truth, the Turks could easily get tables on their own, but that was because people still feared them – and Rude didn't want to remind Tifa of that fact.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek as he left the bar at closing time. She didn't have that flutter in her chest that she always felt when she was around Cloud, or even the warm feeling she got when Reno had held her in Nibelheim or made her laugh. But Cloud was gone – almost five months now – and she didn't want to feel so alone anymore.

Maybe Rude would surprise her; or maybe not. Either way, it was time to start moving on, the thought of which stung.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno ducked into a dive bar on his way home from Seventh Heaven, where he spotted a petite young woman, barely old enough to legally drink, with light brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She was wearing a pink minidress. She looked vaguely familiar, and when she fluttered green eyes at him he knew he had a chance.

Reno locked eyes with her and gave her a cocky grin. He quickly flicked an eyebrow and raised his drink in her direction. She blushed and looked at her feet for a moment. She turned back to her friends, a mixed group of moderately attractive women and some doofy looking (in Reno's opinion) guys who couldn't have made as much money as he did. Reno kept his gaze on the woman for the next few minutes. She kept looking back in his direction and gave him a flushed smile each time.

After her third look, Reno stood up and ambled on over to where the young woman sat with her friends. Her female friends looked at him with some admiration and jealousy, while her male friends glared. Reno didn't care. He ignored them, choosing instead to whisper sweet nothings into the young woman's ear. Maybe Rude was right and he just needed to get laid. He had set his partner up with Tifa, so now he just needed to experience another woman to get the barmaid out of his system, or so he thought.

He stayed with her for maybe half an hour to ensure the young woman now seated on his lap – he didn't catch her name – knew he had eyes for only her. After she had allowed him to nibble on her neck for a while, he whispered the question into her ear. She had her head back to give him better access to her neck and moaned in agreement. He shifted under her to get her to stand up and then took her by the hand and led her to the door, giving her ass a squeeze as he held the door open for her.

It was his typical pickup routine, which he could follow without even thinking. This time, however, something just didn't feel right. He left the young woman satisfied, as always, but as he walked alone back to his apartment – fighting several fiends that the Edge police missed – he didn't have that usual swagger. And as he lay in bed after a few more drinks from his own stash, his mind returned to a different woman, one who remained perfectly unobtainable.


	14. Falling Into Darkness

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 7/22/2020: Chapter almost completely rewritten due to changes in previous chapters. New scenes with Reno added. I've also slowed Reno and Tifa's relationship down. Slow burns are better.**

Chapter 14:

He felt the pounding headache first, like jackhammers trying to bore their way through his skull. No, it was worse than that. This was like the parade in Junon thrown to celebrate Rufus as the new president of Shinra happening right inside his head. He could feel the rhythmically stomping boots of the military grunts and his mind felt as though the horn section was playing that awful song on full blast.

And it was all _her_ fault.

Not the chestnut-haired mouse from earlier in the week; she'd been a fine, fleeting distraction. It was the brunette goddess that had twirled in the recesses of his subconscious day in and day out for the past few months, leaping and kicking and punching as if she were in a choreographed dance. She was as graceful as a ballerina, lethal as a behemoth, and as gorgeous as if she had been sculpted by Shiva herself.

When his eyes finally opened, he felt nauseated. The sun crept into his room around the edges of his window blinds and seared into his eye sockets. Another memory of Junon, only back then the light was orange from the sunset and not blinding white like it was now. He shifted his gaze lower, onto the bottle that had been his sleeping partner for the night. He was lying on his stomach, naked, and spread wide across his king-sized bed in a cruel emphasis of how alone he was. The liquor bottle on the bed next to him was empty, though the cold, damp spot on the sheets underneath its mouth suggested it had not been when he passed out the night before.

The blonde he had bed the night before hadn't helped his predicament, as he thought she would. _Find a woman who looks nothing like anyone you know._ The blonde with the long, curly hair and hazel eyes had certainly been capable, but she didn't fill the hole he felt in his gut. He had left work right at 5 o'clock, which was no surprise to anyone these days, given his disdain for the information gathering. He suggested to Rude that they go somewhere other than Seventh Heaven, explaining that there would be no point to the date if Tifa saw him every day. Reno also hoped that avoiding _her_ would snap him out of whatever funk he now found himself.

It didn't work, so he tried finding a woman that didn't look like someone he knew that would remind him of her, and the blonde fit that profile.

He didn't notice Elena's face when he and Rude left HQ earlier in the day; narrowed eyes and doubt. Rude still hadn't put everything together, but he seemed to have some suspicions. Elena, however, knew Reno didn't understand what jealousy and heartache felt like, having always been on the other end of the relationship spectrum. She had thought about asking him but knew it wouldn't go over well.

So, Reno and Rude went to a different bar where the redhead made lewd comments about women in the bar as he usually did, only something didn't seem right. He didn't seem sincere in his musings – and he was drinking too much, too fast. Rude knew his partner was in for one of "those nights," but he had a date with his dream girl the next night; he didn't have the time or the patience to peel the redhead off the floor of the bar as he had done so many times over the years.

It occurred to Rude at that moment that Reno hadn't had one of those episodes for months. Reno had been particularly prone to wastrel tendencies after the plate was dropped but had seemingly gotten better after Meteor. Rude hoped his partner wasn't falling back into his old ways, especially since Rude wasn't sure what caused this sudden re-emergence of Reno the Drunk.

He had kicked the sauce for a little while after Meteor, so consumed in the reconstruction effort he had little time to think of anything else. But when the woman both he and his partner secretly and not-so-secretly coveted opened an establishment dedicated to alcohol, he'd returned. She pushed it for survival, and neither Reno nor Rude would let her starve.

Rude bid his partner farewell and locked eyes with the bartender as he left a tip generous enough to have been given to Tifa, as if to apologize for Reno's future behavior that night. Luckily for the establishment, Reno didn't cause any trouble. As soon as Rude left, he spied the blonde and made her his mission for the night.

He succeeded in that part, but when he returned to his apartment he continued to drink, trying to forget something he couldn't even recognize. He hadn't set out to get so drunk that night; he had merely been trying to calm the constant _tap tap tapping_ in his head that had persisted since earlier in the week when a certain bartender accepted a certain best friend's date invitation. At first Reno felt a tightness in his chest and just a slight _tap tap tapping_ at the base of his skull, like when he knew he would need a cigarette relatively soon. Throughout the week, that _tap tap tapping_ became more insistent, rising from a mild craving to an intense reckoning and then last night feeling like he was 36 hours into a cold turkey attempt. He had tried to silence the _tap tap tapping_ with alcohol, which worked, to an extent. Not last night, though. He kept drinking, punishing himself for being unable to support his partner.

He looked at the clock. He'd slept the day away. The sun was no longer blinding him, replaced by steel gray clouds ominously portending that the coming storm would be epic.

He didn't usually sleep this long unless he passed out; nightmares always interrupting his slumber to remind him he was a piece of human garbage. If not nightmares, pleasant dreams ended too soon of a busty fighter throwing down the gauntlet; of arms gently wrapped around his waist and a cheek against his chest.

A "functional alcoholic," he'd tell his coworkers, though sometimes the "functional" part would take a vacation.

He rose from the bed supporting himself on his hands, inhaling haggardly before hacking up a figurative lung. He considered calling Rude to see if he needed any help getting ready – advice or liquid courage – but decided against it. He was in no position to help and couldn't guarantee his attitude wouldn't betray his secret.

He reached for his EMR sitting on his nightstand. It wasn't its usual perch, but Reno hadn't been in the frame of mind the night before to care. Taking hold of the weapon gave him access to his Restore materia, the quickest hangover remedy. A low-level spell could chase the daggers away, though Reno tried to ride them out as often as he could. He may be a drunk, but he didn't want to fall into a cycle of alcohol and materia remedies. Most people didn't even know that Restore could be used that way.

He had the day off, which contributed to last night's affair. He showered and dressed in his blue Turk suit because even if he wasn't working, he liked the confidence boost it gave him. It also attracted women and warned anyone who would dare cut him off at the bar. He didn't feel 100%, but he still had a few hours until he needed to be anywhere. He convinced himself that, for Rude, he would go to Seventh Heaven around 10 p.m. to see how the date went. If it went poorly, Tifa would already be home. He could make the quick determination to prepare for the fallout without waiting for Rude to tell him, since he knew his bald friend wouldn't divulge the details no matter what the outcome.

It was already pouring when he took his first steps into the open air, opening an umbrella and balancing it in the crook of his shoulder as he lit a cigarette. He stopped for a fresh pack before working his way through back alleys in the dark toward Seventh Heaven. He arrived just before 10 p.m. The lights were out. Didn't mean anything. He stood on the small porch outside the front door under the second-floor overhang to stay relatively dry. There were few cars on the road these days due to the monster population, but every time he saw headlights he ducked around the corner, defeating the purpose of staying on the porch.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa sat in the grand dining room of The Golden Chocobo. The room was one of the fanciest she had ever been in, with white and blue marble tiles and columns and a fountain in the middle of the room with a brass chocobo statue at the top. The base of the fountain was stone, with streams of water pouring out from a second tier into the larger pool beneath.

Tifa sat across from Rude at their table next to this fountain and she could see the mosaic tile floor beneath the cool, clear water dotted with gil thrown in by wishful patrons. She looked back at Rude, still surprised to see him out of his typical Turk attire. He was still wearing a suit, but it was charcoal gray with a white dress shirt underneath and a colorful tie. Tifa, meanwhile, wore a form-fitting dress with wide, diagonal white and black stripes.

The murmur of fleeting conversations hung heavy in the air as Tifa picked at her salad. It was good – probably one of the best salads she ever had – but Rude had barely said two words to her since he picked her up from in front of her bar. The most interesting piece of conversation between the two so far was about his tie.

She had tried to initiate conversation multiple times, but he would only respond in one-word answers or, at most, a full sentence. Favorite thing to do after work? Drink. Favorite thing about being a Turk? Can't answer. Where in Midgar did you grow up? Slums. Which sector? Not important. Favorite movie? Don't watch 'em. She was getting aggravated.

She had thought once he was away from Reno he would open up and let her in, but he didn't. She already knew there couldn't be a second date.

_Toothpaste, wood polish, a couple new dish rags. _Tifa had started making a grocery list in her head to try to pass the time. She mentally kicked herself for running completely out of toothpaste before buying a new tube.

Cloud wasn't the most talkative person, but when it was just the two of them, he would often make jokes about the people around them or engage her in a conversation about ridiculous theories relating to monsters they had fought on their previous trials. For example, they spent one afternoon debating Hojo's title of "professor." Gast was a doctor, but Hojo was always referred to as a professor. Did he not have a Ph.D.? Where did he teach? _What_ did he teach? Was there a generation of Hojo acolytes out there continuing his creepy legacy? The questions went on. They never did decide on any answers.

They could laugh and flirt easily, but Tifa supposed that came from the comfort they had in each other's presence from a lifetime of friendship.

"So, that thing in Nibelheim…" she tried again. Rude made no indication that he had even heard her.

"I can't talk about that, sorry," he said.

"What _can_ you talk about, Rude?" she was getting frustrated at this point. There _had_ to be more to him than grunts or silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, _talk_ to me," she said, exasperated. "You asked me out for a date, but you've hardly said anything."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she sighed. "I just want to know the real you, outside of the Turks. You have to have things you want to talk about."

"I, heh," Rude began. "I really don't talk. Reno does the talking; I do the fighting."

"That makes sense for work, but when you're not on assignment, what do you guys talk about?"

"You've seen how it is at the bar."

"That's seriously your relationship? He picks up women while you silently stare into your drink?" Tifa supposed it made sense.

There were probably chatty girls who would love to have a man who simply listened all the time and went along with whatever they wanted, but Tifa needed something else. She needed to be challenged, to have discussions, and to be sure the person she was with was interested in her. A man sitting in silence just wasn't enough, even if she _knew_ he liked her.

"Well, no," Rude said.

Tifa reached across the table to grab his hands for emphasis.

"Then tell me what's in that bald head of yours," she said, squeezing his hands.

Rude was definitely thrown by her action. He had never felt her touch; how soft and warm her hands were. Even though she was a fighter, her skin was smooth and silky to the touch, as if she had never used her hands before. He wanted to savor the moment, but knew he needed to start talking soon to keep her from getting too bored.

"I'm not bald," he said reflexively. "I shave my head."

"Hey, there's something," Tifa seemed pleased with his admission. "Why do you shave your head?"

"Because I'm going bald."

It wasn't some big joke, but the way Rude said it made Tifa laugh. He wasn't bald, he just shaved his head because he was bald. It was just simple enough to tickle her. The sound of her laugh made him actually smile a little.

"Okay, I guess it's little comments like that that make you a good match for Reno."

"I can be quite delightful," Rude said, losing any emotion he may have just had. His statement made Tifa laugh even harder.

The conversation passed and the two fell into an uncomfortable silence before their entrées were delivered. They ate in silence for a few minutes, until Rude remembered he never showed Tifa those photos of Reno after he was electrocuted. Bringing up Reno when Rude had some suspicions about his relationship with Tifa might not have been the smartest idea, but the bald Turk knew she would probably get a kick out of the pictures.

"Oh yeah, I meant to show you these before, but then Nibelheim happened…" he trailed off as he pulled out his PHS and found the first image in the series. "We recently came into contact with some electrified doors. Reno, naturally, couldn't keep his hands to himself."

He handed a confused Tifa his phone, knowing it was a gamble but wanting to make her laugh more than protect whatever information she might snoop. She took it from him slowly, careful not to drop it as she moved it over the table with food and beverages. When she looked at the first picture Rude saw her face light up with laughter.

"His hair looks like a trickplay!" she exclaimed as she scrolled through photos showing Reno with his hair frizzed out and ponytail puffed like a mu tail. The final entry was a short video of Reno struggling to walk as his limbs twitched. Tifa tried to stifle her laughter, knowing the scarlet-haired Turk was in agony. His cocky attitude, however, made him due for a good takedown. "Poor Reno," she giggled as she handed Rude his phone.

The rest of their dinner actually ended up being rather pleasant. Tifa didn't leave feeling _that_ way about Rude, but she had at least come to see him in a different light. He was funny, in a deadpan sort of way. He didn't have a lot to say, but he could crack her up with the way he phrased his answers.

Oh, and the food at the restaurant was just as good as Tifa remembered. The menu had changed since she had been there a year ago, but the sorghum-glazed dual horn short rib was equally as delicious, and the blueberry lavender mini cheesecakes molded in the shape of a moogle's face were quite charming.

Despite the food and the agreeable conversation, Tifa ended up depressing herself as the night went on. In retrospect, suggesting The Golden Chocobo was a bad idea, given her previous experience with Cloud. _They_ laughed and flirted the entire time. Back then, it was so easy for her to be with Cloud. His headaches were mild and his nightmares weren't so severe. By the end of her date with Rude, Tifa was realizing she had chosen the restaurant to try and recreate one of her happiest moments.

Rude dropped Tifa off in front of her bar just after 10 p.m., feeling pretty good about the date, but not good enough to move in for a kiss. He thought he had broken new ground with the woman he had admired from afar for the past several years but worried he just hadn't said enough to captivate someone like her. Perhaps they were just too different. He wasn't used to women actually wanting to have a discussion. Usually, they just talked his ear off. But of course, the woman he was interested in wasn't like that, and he just wasn't that much of a conversationalist, even if he had managed to make her laugh a few times.

It was raining hard when he stopped his car in front of Seventh Heaven. With his windshield wipers on full blast, he had to raise his voice for Tifa to hear him over the storm outside.

"I wish I had more to say," he told her, looking into her eyes through the sunglasses he was wearing even though it was night.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I had a lovely time."

She leaned over the center console and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"See you at the bar soon?" she asked before she opened her car door.

Rude nodded his head and grunted in his usual fashion. Tifa felt relieved that things might be able to go back to normal after what was a mediocre date.

She rushed to her front door, though that hadn't helped keep her any drier, but immediately threw her head back and groaned.

"Toothpaste!" she yelled out loud as if she were scolding her own home.

She checked the time on her phone – four minutes until the nearby general store closed. She could make it if she ran right now but she had no umbrella. Unlocking her door and going inside to find her umbrella would probably mean the store would close, and she was not about to go to bed without proper dental hygiene.

Fuck it, she'd just run. She bolted from her doorway and down the street, entering the store with one minute to spare. She had fortunately decided to forgo heels that night in favor of some stylish black leather ankle boots with a slight chunky heel. She had considered heels, but she felt it was safer to be ready to fight. Going into the date, she thought there was still a slim chance that Rude had been faking his feelings for her to play some kind of long-con. Can never really trust those Turks.

The cashier at the general store glared at her, pissed that she would have to deal with a customer after closing time. Tifa quickly found the items she needed (might as well pick up the rest of what she needed while she was already here instead of making another trip in the morning) and paid for them, leaving the store just two minutes after closing time and quickly running home.

By the time she reached her home a second time she was soaked to the bone. Her hair stuck to her face, continuing to drip down her body even after she was under the cover of her doorway and her clothes clung to her skin.

She fumbled with her keys and they slipped from her hands. When she bent over to pick them up she heard that annoyingly familiar voice that always came too close for comfort.

"Wrong night to wear white, eh?"

Tifa spun around toward the direction of the voice with her fists raised, poised to strike. In her haste to turn on her stalker, she hadn't actually listened to what he said, instead preparing for a potential fight. Of course, it was Reno _again_. He just kept showing up when she was alone and on edge.

At the sight of him, she flung her arms toward her sides, the way a child would when stomping their foot, only without the stomp.

"Why do you keep following me?" she hissed.

It was really starting to get annoying. It was like he _was_ stalking her, always appearing out of nowhere with some snarky comment.

Reno tried to keep his eyes on Tifa's face, but they kept wandering south. He found her angry expression downright cute in the moment even as his maleness dictated he look elsewhere.

It was clear she hadn't worn a bra with this particular ensemble, and he could see the pink forms of her nipples underneath. She was flashing him without her knowledge, something that caused heat to pool in his loins. He of course wanted to see them without the coverage of a wet dress – and in a scenario where he could freely touch and suck on them – but this was a nice step forward, especially given his belief that he would never be in a position like that with her.

He leaned against the front wall of her bar with one ankle crossed over the foot bearing his weight and removed a rumpled pack of cigarettes, his eyes now avoiding her. He removed the last one in the pack, which had been spotted with rain drops (but he couldn't just throw it away) and placed it between his lips. She continued to stare at him questioningly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter. Without any consideration for how much time he was taking, he brought the lighter up to the tip of the cigarette and lit it, watching as the tobacco burned into an orange nub sticking out from the paper that had once concealed it. He took one long drag of the cigarette and exhaled out the side of his mouth to avoid blowing smoke in Tifa's pretty face.

As she watched him take his time with the cigarette, she noticed that he was soaking wet as well. His once lively red hair now hung limply toward his ears, his bangs soggy against his face. His suit was wrinkled and clinging to his thin frame, the collar of his white dress shirt looking even more disheveled than usual. He certainly looked pathetic, though Tifa imagined she must look similar.

Reno removed the cigarette from his lips using his index and middle fingers and brought it to his side. At this point, Tifa considered just entering her home and not entertaining whatever game he was currently playing. She sighed heavily and crossed her arms under her chest, which just made things worse (better) for Reno.

"Because, I…" he couldn't finish the sentence. "I'm sorry, I can't concentrate when you have your headlights on me." He didn't even try to hide his amusement.

"Excuse me?" Tifa asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Reno took one last look at her chest and the thin white material that was clutching her breasts, before looking into her eyes again, quickly. She caught on to what he was indicating and looked down, horrified to find that she could indeed see her own nipples through her dress.

Mortified, she immediately hugged her arms around her chest and turned away from him, crying "oh my God," as she did so.

Reno thought he probably should have kept his big mouth shut, but if he said nothing and she figured it out on her own, she might have been angrier. At least he was being informative, right?

"You're a jerk!" she said with her upper body turned away from him toward her door as she again fumbled with the lock.

"I know, but at least I let you know, right?" Reno asked, continuing to lean against the wall outside Seventh Heaven.

Tifa whipped around to face him once again – arms covering her chest – to shoot him an indignant look.

"_Eventually_," she sneered. "Get a good look, pervert?"

"Not really, that porch light is pretty dim," Reno replied, glancing toward the dim bulb.

His humor was not welcome.

"What are you doing here, Reno?" she demanded, backing into the corner of the small porch next to the front door.

"I wanted to know how your date went."

"Why don't you just ask Rude?"

"That's not how I roll," Reno explained. "I want to be ready for whatever he needs tomorrow, and based on how early it is, I'd say he needs alcohol."

"What would he need if the date lasted longer?"

"Alcohol, but we'd be happy drinking," Reno said with a smirk. "Tell me something, Lockhart. Why'd you go out with him?"

Tifa held her arms tightly across her chest, wanting nothing more than to go inside, get away from Reno, and change. She leaned her shoulder against the front of the doorframe to answer the redhead's question before making her move inside.

"You made it clear I should, and I wanted to."

Reno brought his right forearm to rest on the wall next to him in order to prop himself up and moved closer to Tifa.

"Did you know when you agreed that you weren't really into him?"

"I didn't know that," she replied, "for sure. I wanted to give him a chance."

"He's not your type," Reno said, his eyes heavy as he spoke. "You like the thrill of the chase Lockhart. You want a lost soul you can turn around."

"That's not true," Tifa insisted. Reno was not convinced.

"He's not dangerous enough for you," the Turk said.

"He's a Turk."

"You know what I mean. You know he likes you. There's no ambiguity there, and that bores you," Reno said, searching her eyes for that glint of acknowledgement to prove he was right.

There it was.

"Then _why_ were you so insistent that I go out with him?"

Reno rubbed the back of his neck and looked toward the wooden planks of the wall, focusing on a splintered section that had been damaged by a fiend.

"I hoped I was wrong. He's been carryin' a torch for ya for so long, I wanted to help," the redhead said.

"You're just _that_ good of a friend?"

"I had to try. I'm not like Rude though, just liking someone from afar, yanno? I had to give him a push. I mean, if I really wanted to be with a girl, I'd…" he stopped short, realizing he had just given himself away.

It was Tifa's turn to smile.

"…Wait in the pouring rain for her to return from her date with his best friend?" Tifa said, now appearing a little smug. Reno's expression didn't change. Instead, he just exhaled smoke slowly and deliberately, as if he hadn't even heard what she said.

"Oh this? Nah, I was just in the neighborhood…" he sounded cool, but Tifa had this self-satisfied smile on her face and kept nodding her head in amusement. "… and figured I'd see if the date went well, yo."

"Mmhmm," Tifa smiled.

Oh, he had been caught. He had been caught red-handed.

"I think you were jealous," she teased.

Reno's body language gave no indication that he was listening. He took another long drag from the cigarette.

"No way, I don't get crushes," Reno's voice was cool and low, almost disinterested.

"So, all those confessions and nights helping me after closing…?" Tifa asked.

Reno's eyes lit up, a flare from the mako that Tifa could see even on the dimly lit porch. All this time he had told himself he didn't have a chance with Tifa Lockhart and that to get past his sexual desires for her, he should try to set her up with his best friend. Her comment just now suggested she had seen something in his flirtations, possibly even welcomed them. It was another little drop in the bucket where he had been collecting evidence of her potential reciprocation.

He decided that he needed to know for sure. If she pushed him away, he could move on with his life and return to his womanizing like nothing had ever happened, but if she accepted…

He took a step toward her with his eyes locked on hers. He smoldered, answering her question with his expression. She, however, was now backed against the door, keeping one arm across her chest while moving her other hand to reach for the doorknob.

Reno kept her pace; close enough for her to feel the heat from his body on the arm that was still covering her breasts. He hovered over her as her right hand gripped the doorknob, keeping her eyes locked on his to figure out what he was about to do. His face closed in on hers and she realized she was no longer trying to get away. She had never imagined kissing Reno – certainly not in any way except against her will – but now that it was about to happen, she felt butterflies in her stomach. The pain and anguish that had consumed her heart these last few months subsided for a split second, before she felt herself falling backward.

As Reno had leaned in, Tifa absentmindedly let her right hand fall from the doorknob, but in doing so, accidentally twisted the knob. When Reno was close enough to kiss her, she had moved to brace herself against the door, causing it to open and both her and the redhead to tumble inside. Reno, with his inhuman reflexes boosted by a mild amount of mako combined with what she assumed was already catlike agility, quickly wrapped his right arm around Tifa's back and reached out his left to brace their fall, keeping the barmaid from making full contact with the ground. When they landed, Reno still had an arm under Tifa while his left elbow was to her side, their faces so close he could feel the tip of her nose against his own.

A rush of wind and rain followed them in, making them each shiver before closing the door as it left her establishment. They could hear the door slam behind them as the wind left the building as quickly as it had come.

Tifa stared up at him as her heartbeat slowed from its height during the fall. She could feel Reno's chest pressing against hers as he, too, continued to breathe heavily, the cigarette smoke on his breath filling her nostrils. He could practically taste the cheesecake she had for dessert – with Rude – as she caught her breath.

Tifa knew she was getting caught up in Reno's… charms? That wasn't the right word. More like antagonistic flirting, but she had developed some kind of feelings for him, nonetheless. It wasn't what she felt for Cloud, to be sure, it was more like a watered-down version of the heat she felt in her chest every time she was around the blond swordsman. A dull ache for Reno's attention, even though she didn't want to feel this way.

"Reno…" she said softly, her voice breathy and belying her desire.

She knew nothing could happen between them no matter what she was starting to feel. If her relationship with Cloud had been complicated during their previous adventure, any relationship with Reno would be even more so. She couldn't imagine trying to explain to her friends – especially Barret – such an encounter.

"I've wanted to hear you say my name like that for so long, yo," he said, bringing his forehead to rest against hers. "Reeee-no…" he mimicked her as best he could, though his own voice was raspy from cigarettes.

And there it was. Confirmation that the redheaded Turk wanted her; physically, she assumed. But she couldn't. Cloud may have been gone for five months, but she wasn't ready for anyone to even attempt to take his place. She'd loved the man since she was a teenager; the heartache was too fresh.

Tifa fidgeted underneath Reno and sat up as she again covered her chest with her arms. Reno sat back on his heels as she did so, kicking himself for making such an admission. She looked at him again without saying anything, though her eyes were watery, the life he had just seen in them a moment ago deflated.

Reno knew that look, even if Tifa thought he couldn't see it in the dark of the unlit bar. He hopped to his feet to turn the light on. Tifa turned her head from him and closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't notice the tears threatening to release. Reno walked back over to her and offered his hand. Tifa sensed he was close again and looked up to his hand, releasing one arm from her chest to accept his help.

Reno then did something he never imagined himself doing. As he pulled Tifa up, he brought her to him so he could wrap his arms around her. This time it was Tifa's turn to hesitate awkwardly. She still had an arm covering her chest as Reno embraced her and let her free hand fall to her side. Reno held her tightly, not quite sure what he was doing, but knowing what had happened the last time he saw Tifa cry. After a minute passed, Tifa struggled to remove her arm from between them and slowly, tentatively, reached her arms around Reno to hug him back. She leaned her head against his chest, both shivering from their soaking wet clothes.

Reno knew what – or who – was holding Tifa back, but there was nothing he could really do about that. Strife was an ass, and an idiot, who did _this_ to one of the most caring women Reno had ever met.

Against all odds, Tifa Lockhart had seemingly forgiven him and Rude – the most loathsome men on the planet, in Reno's opinion – for their past. He knew how she had been there for Cloud even as he pulled away from her. It made him want to punch the blond in the face. He thought back to the times when he was able to electrocute that bastard and smiled briefly.

"You can't hold on to the past so hard," he whispered, squeezing her a little tighter. "I've been there. It almost killed me."

Tifa wasn't sobbing into his chest like last time; the tears never fell. She was too shocked by Reno's tenderness to let her feelings get the best of her again. Yet again, Reno had managed to rescue her from her pain. She pulled back from him, her expression sheepish.

"I should change…" she said, again covering her chest. "I'll… I'll get you a towel."

Reno watched her disappear up the stairs. A white stripe of her dress also fell over her backside, giving him a decent view of her white thong beneath the thin material. It really was the wrong night to wear white.

He strolled over to the bar and sat at his usual stool, trying to calm his wandering mind that was causing his pants to become a little tight. He rested his forearms on the bar and picked at his nails until Tifa returned and tossed a towel over his head. He was actually a little surprised she came back at all; perhaps even more surprised that he didn't follow her upstairs.

He dried his hair as Tifa walked behind the bar and grabbed two glasses, setting one in front of him. When she turned back around holding his favorite scotch she paused. Reno had removed his jacket and was wearing just his wet dress shirt, which must have been as see-through as her dress had been. The soaked fabric clung to his skin, showing off how lithe he was even underneath his fitted suit. He reached up to the top button he had fastened, which was the third button down and started to undo it before noticing Tifa was staring.

"Uh, mind? Kinda cold," he said. She nodded and turned back to the bar cabinet; her cheeks flushed. She didn't notice Reno's prideful smirk.

He removed his shirt and placed it over the back of the bar stool next to him, his jacket carefully laid over the counter beside him. Tifa, he now noticed, was dressed in her usual attire – a white crop top and black leather miniskirt. Her hair was still wet, but she had it pulled up into a thick bun, her bangs still falling messily about her forehead. Her outfit did nothing to calm the heat in his loins.

Tifa turned around to pour Reno's scotch before grabbing a bottle of Corel wine and pouring herself half a glass. She stayed behind the bar, fearful of what might happen if she dared to sit next to him; whether she could control her hormones - or if he could control his. She smiled at Reno, who now had the towel draped around his shoulders like an old woman's shawl. He took a large sip of his scotch, the brown liquor burning his chest as he swallowed. Satisfying.

"Still cold?" Tifa asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"Not anymore," he said, his eyes trained on her with a hint of sensuality hidden behind the mako.

He knew he should have left while she was upstairs or even before they fell into the bar. Hell, he knew he shouldn't have come here in the first place. If Rude had seen what had happened tonight, their friendship might be over. Reno couldn't live with himself if he lost Rude, but he also was enjoying his time with Tifa too much to walk away from her, even if nothing had actually happened between them.

They stayed silent for several minutes, each nursing their own drink.

"Still upset over Strife?" Reno asked, though it was a question to which he already knew the answer and didn't want to hear.

He was becoming "that guy" who kept comforting a girl while she pined for someone else. He ran a hand through his hair and down to his neck, wishing he had another cigarette to focus on. Why didn't he make a snarky or flirtatious comment? He could kick himself, again.

"I think I'm getting better," she replied, her voice unsteady. "Like you said, I can't hold on to the past, right?"

Reno was surprised she quoted his words back to him, assuming she hadn't heard them earlier or had simply dismissed them.

"That's right, Lockhart," he said, the corner of his lip curling upward.

As another silence passed, Reno decided he had done enough to damage his friendship with Rude. He started to slowly rise from his stool, noticing again how wet and cold his pants were, and began to pull on his still soaked shirt.

"I could lend you a T-shirt so you don't have to walk back completely drenched," Tifa said.

Reno chuckled. "Don't think I'll fit into one of yours, Lockhart."

"Very funny, but Cloud left his clothes here… I could let you borrow one of his…"

Had she really just suggested giving something of Cloud's to _Reno_?

"Don't worry about it, it'll just get rained on anyway. Besides, it's a warm night."

Tifa nodded and watched as Reno slipped back into his shirt and jacket, wincing as the cool fabric slid across his skin. She walked around the bar to follow him to the door so she could lock it after he left. He paused before opening it and turned back toward her. He didn't know what to say and even though he knew he should say nothing and simply walk away to keep his cool exterior, he _wanted_ to say something to her.

"Thank you," she said, her hands clasped behind her back and her gaze not meeting his.

There was that innocence in full view. She looked almost like a scared teenager, afraid that she was embarrassing herself. Reno felt his left eye twitch just once.

"Just do me a favor, wouldja, Lockhart?" he asked, causing her to meet his eyes.

"What?"

"Don't let me see you sad anymore. You're too hot to be hung up on some guy."

Tifa's eyebrows squeezed together in confusion – not over what Reno said, but the fact that he said it. If she didn't know any better, the Reno she experienced tonight was unlike her previous image of him. He almost seemed… caring, but she knew better.

She nodded and smiled anyway, tilting her head slightly. "I'll try."

He continued to stare into her carmine eyes for a second too long and she thought he was about to try and kiss her again. She could practically see the gears turning in his head, yet he turned suddenly and again opened the door. She found her heart dropping a little as that odd feeling of rejection returned.

Lightning struck somewhere in the distance, illuminating the light sky for a brief moment and silhouetting Reno. His hair was dry enough to begin regaining its natural spikiness; suit rumpled from moisture. He paused and slumped his shoulders as he stood in the doorframe. He couldn't leave like this. He almost had his chance, he needed to take it, even if it was so, so wrong.

He spun back around to face her and without another word and with little tenderness, he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her. She squealed with surprise into his mouth but did not struggle. This was actually happening. She was actually kissing Reno – a Turk! What would AVALANCHE think? What would Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie think?

She realized her arms had reached up to wrap around his neck and she was standing on her tiptoes as he deepened the kiss, snaking his tongue into her mouth and reaching around her back. His arms were so long, and she was so thin, he could reach his own elbows. He leaned forward to dip her back slowly, knowing that his wet clothes were ruining her fresh shirt, and wanting nothing more than to slide his hands down her back to her ass and then to her thighs to lift her up and carry her to the bar, or maybe upstairs.

But he didn't. She pulled out of the kiss not long after it started, her fingertips lingering against his jaw and her lips still slightly parted. She was surprised, but not unhappy, as he thought she might be. Her lashes fluttered as she stood up straight.

To be honest, Tifa hadn't expected the kiss to feel so good. As her mind quickly raced to interpret what just happened, she realized she should have known he would be a good kisser, what with his reputation. She suddenly hated herself for getting caught up in the moment, even if it her heart was racing.

"Goodnight, Reno," she said when her heels returned to the floor.

"Goodnight, Lockhart." This time he actually left, his hope that she would leave his system immediately retreating.

He strolled home with a cocky grin plastered to his face that he couldn't shake. He couldn't get his mind off her until he entered his empty apartment and it all hit him. There was no turning back for him now, he just hoped Rude wouldn't find out.

_Meanwhile…_

The excitement of the evening quickly turned into an extreme feeling of guilt and Tifa rushed upstairs to shower. Scrub as hard as she could, she couldn't get the hot tinge of guilt from rising up her spine.

What she had just done was unforgivable. She had betrayed Cloud, AVALANCHE, and even Rude. Even if Cloud did come back, would he take her back knowing what she had just done? Would he forgive her? Or see her as a slut that turned to the enemy the minute his back was turned?

She sunk to the floor of her shower and started to cry as hot water tried to sear the sin from her body.

What had she done?

After her skin had turned red from the heat – and after she had stopped crying – she stepped out of the shower and pulled on a pair of pink cheeky underwear and a black camisole. She made it back to her bed before collapsing in the fetal position and crying once again until she fell asleep with the covers pulled up over her head as if to shield her from the world's accusations.

When she awoke, she found a text message had been waiting for her all night.

"Sleep well, Lockhart" it said.

**End notes: This chapter took me a long time to write and I'm not sure I'm totally happy with it. I actually liked the way it was written before, but since I'm making Reno less cruel in this version, I had to tone things down. I've saved the deleted scenes and might adapt them for future chapters, or create a separate fic for the deleted scenes.**

**I prefer the more callous Reno, I'm worried he's becoming too sappy in this fic. I guess that's necessary, though, to make him a realistic option for Tifa.**


	15. Distraction

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies. ****This chapter contains a couple sex scenes. If you don't like reading them, please skip them.**

**Updated 8/24/2020: Added more scenes with Reno, as well as a new scene with Reno and Rude. Edits throughout to keep Reno from being so conniving.**

Chapter 15:

_Sunday_

Reno was trapped in those few seconds between sleep and awake where reality was confused, and dreams were persuasive.

He knew he had gone to Seventh Heaven the night before – he hadn't been drunk and he wasn't hungover now – but a couple risqué dreams about the incident had him questioning what actually happened, evidenced by the raging stiffness of a particular part of his anatomy, which was unabashedly greeting the morning air. If he could remember seeing or experiencing something three times, one _had_ to have actually happened, he figured. He'd try to focus on his major senses; what he saw, felt, tasted.

He remembered being outside the bar and could remember how his suit jacket clung to him with icy resolve. Tifa, too, had been soaked in the rain, and Reno recalled noticing her nipples through tight white fabric three separate times – meaning it must have actually happened.

He saw her hair sticking to her face and could feel his own hair soggy as well.

He felt himself falling to the hardwood floor, the recollection forcing him to recognize the soreness in his right forearm and elbow. He checked his left hand. It was still pink, but the ache on the heel let him know a bruise would appear soon. They definitely fell. He was on top of her, straddling her and pinning her to the ground.

Next, he focused on what he _hoped_ had actually happened.

_Tifa sat up and Reno ripped the thin fabric of her dress apart at her chest, causing her breasts to spill out over what remained of her clothing._

_"Reno!" she yelled, blushing heavily._

_She tried to cover herself again but this time he grabbed her upper arms and forced them back so he could see her as he had only dreamed of seeing her before._

He wanted so badly to remember what her breasts looked like outside of her dress, what they felt like, and how they tasted, but he couldn't. _Dammit, that was the dream_.

Her smooth, alabaster skin stretched between large, natural breasts – he hadn't actually witnessed that. Which meant…

_Reno moved his lips toward hers and brought one hand up to cradle her head while letting the other one explore her breasts, squeezing the tender flesh and rubbing her nipples with his thumb. And then his lips left hers and began to travel south, first to her ear lobe, then to her jaw, then to her neck, shoulder, chest, and finally to her other breast, where he swirled the nub of her nipple with his tongue before nipping and sucking on it._

_Tifa arched her chest into his face and gripped the back of his head with her fingers, nearly clawing at his tresses. Reno continued to tease her with his tongue and thumb as she moaned in approval. He even kissed the center of her chest as his lips passed between her breasts. After each breast was wet from his mouth, he began to kiss the line between them, traveling south once more._

He sat up in bed as he finally awoke. His dreams had been far more enticing than reality, even though what actually happened led to his dreams. He hadn't experienced Tifa Lockhart, but he had kissed her and heard her say his name in a sultry fashion. He fell back onto his pillow with his arms stretched out to the sides, letting go of the disappointment of not having fondled Tifa's breasts while smiling arrogantly about his stolen kiss and the look on her face as she pulled away.

Reno knew how women thought. Well, except for _one_ woman. One insane woman who seemed to see something he did not see in himself, who managed to set aside his worst transgressions and forgive him when he could not do the same.

He was a Turk, skilled in perception, _de_ception, stealth, and fighting. But if he were to name the one skill he was better at than anything else, it was reading women. He knew what they were thinking even before they did, and he used that knowledge to get ahead of them to prove himself to be whatever guy they wanted him to be. He didn't need the ability to read their thoughts, he already sensed them. He only needed to observe a woman for a few minutes before determining exactly what she was looking for in a man. And then he would become that man.

If he needed to be a good listener, he was; if he needed to be a tough guy, he was; if he needed to be the sensitive type, well, there were just somethings he wouldn't do – until now. Until Tifa, he'd never met a woman who really, truly wanted a sensitive type. Deep down they all wanted the same thing. Even she, he thought, only wanted someone sensitive to a point.

Reno had a long list of conquests in his head. He didn't know everyone's names – sometimes he didn't ask and sometimes they didn't tell – but he always thought he was at least polite enough to be able to pick them out of a crowd if needed. He rarely gave the women he bed a second thought, but he didn't forget them, either. None of them ever captivated him like Tifa. She had seen him perform some of the worst missions of his job, yet last night she allowed him to kiss her. The taste of her sweet lips still lingered on his own.

He knew as soon as he left Seventh Heaven that Tifa would shame herself into a spiral of guilt. It was currently eating him up inside to know that he was causing her further grief. If he hadn't had such a previous encyclopedia of knowledge on women, he would have never known. Suddenly, his knowledge was a curse. He sent her that text when he knew she would be crying to get her to think about him in a more favorable way again.

She would be his greatest challenge, but he suspected she would be his greatest reward as well. He could tell that underneath that demure exterior lay a vixen just waiting to be unleashed – and he was just the man to bring it out of her.

His thoughts quickly turned to Rude and how Reno was courting the man's dream girl behind his back. Reno had told himself to stop every step of the way, but the allure of Tifa Lockhart proved too strong. He still hoped _she_ would put a stop to it to save him from the inevitability of losing her _and_ Rude. He knew it couldn't last between himself and a woman like Tifa. She embodied all that was good and kind in the world – and he was the opposite. She may have seen him at his lowest, but her view of him now was just occasional incidents and some happy coincidences. The real, day-to-day Reno could never satisfy her. He'd only break her heart if she were to build him up as some replacement for Cloud.

He decided at that moment to stay away from her for a few days. He knew a possible outcome of that plan – based on past experience – would be that the woman would grow fonder of him if he disappeared. It's why he stopped bringing women back to his apartment in the old Shinra building. Too many would show up demanding to see him, causing a scene in the lobby and resulting in a scolding from Tseng.

There was a chance, however, that Tifa might give up on him if he appeared to have run. Reno also knew he wouldn't be able to control himself around her at this point, giving them away to Rude. He was so guilt-ridden by now that he couldn't be in the same room as his partner and Tifa, so ashamed of what he had done, yet feeling no regret for what had transpired.

He had taken a hot shower to warm up when he returned home the night before, but he woke up still feeling the shiver beneath his skin. Another, longer shower did the trick as he plotted how he could spend his next few days without contacting Tifa, which also meant avoiding her bar and likely losing Rude as a drinking buddy for the foreseeable future.

Sunday was another day off, but he knew he couldn't sleep the day away or drink himself into oblivion. No, he had to be there for his partner, who had just failed with the woman with whom Reno appeared to be succeeding.

When he was properly dressed and caffeinated, he leaned on his elbows over his kitchen counter, cradling his PHS in his palms and staring at Rude's name in his contacts. What could he say to the man after what he did last night? In hindsight, he should have just waited to ask Rude how the date went instead of stalking Tifa.

He tapped Rude's name with his thumb and continued to hold the phone near the counter as it rang. Reno needed to play this off as if he didn't know how the date had gone, still thinking of what to say when Rude answered.

"Hmm?" Rude grunted into the phone after several rings.

"Hey partner, how'd it go?" Reno asked using all the acting abilities he had as a sometimes-undercover Turk.

Rude just grunted; groaned, really.

"So, that's… good?" Reno tried to keep the conversation light.

"I screwed up," Rude finally said.

"What? How? I doubt that," Reno lied.

"She needs someone more talkative. I just couldn't," Rude admitted with a sigh.

"Crazy. When we're out drinkin', you can be quite chatty."

"That's you."

"Eh, forget it man, let's go drink," he offered, feeling like a scumbag as the words left his lips. "And you can be as chatty as you want."

"Okay."

"I'll meet you at the place by you in twenty."

Reno was surprised to see that Rude didn't look any different from his usual, stoic self. To the untrained eye, Rude hadn't experienced any emotions… ever. But to Reno, possibly fueled by his own delinquency, Rude looked absolutely downtrodden.

"So, why do you think you screwed up?" Reno asked after they each had a couple drinks in silence

"I don't know what to say around her," Rude responded. "And she wanted conversation."

Reno let out a simple "hmm" and stared into his drink, a cheaper scotch than Tifa served at Seventh Heaven, but satisfying enough for the current situation.

He heard Rude sigh next to him, the slightly older Turk bowing his head and wrapping his fingers around his glass as he spoke to the liquid inside, not to Reno.

"Sometimes I wish I could be more like you," Rude admitted after a long pause.

He didn't notice Reno's eyes nearly pop out of his head for a second before the redhead turned to look Rude's way, stunned.

"No, you don't," he said tersely, turning his attention back to his own drink and mirroring Rude's grip on the glass.

"At least when it comes to talking," Rude countered. "You've made her laugh… and smile. You got her talking when no one else could."

His voice was definitely strained, as if the admission was physically hurting him. Rude felt his chest tighten as he spoke, the slightest hint of jealousy stinging like a mosquito to the back of the neck.

"It's just cuz I don't have a filter," Reno offered. "Everyone else was afraid to talk to her after Strife bounced, but I don't care. I'll say whatever."

"I've noticed."

"You could be like that, too, yanno."

"I overthink too much," Rude took a large sip of his drink and brought the glass down to the bar a little harder than he intended. "Maybe she should be with you."

He couldn't believe he had let those words leave his mouth, but he didn't regret saying them. He wanted to gauge Reno's reaction; a test of sorts, to see how the redhead responded. Rude's suspicions were at an all-time high, even though he tried to tamp them down, wary of being so distrustful of his best friend. But something had changed in Reno over the past few months since Cloud had been gone. Rude didn't think anyone else would notice, but being Reno's best friend, it was kind of hard to miss. Years of evidence began to seem less than coincidental: The change in Reno's demeanor following the pillar, everything about their mission in Gongaga, how he's changed the past few months, including his lack of sexual conquests and his increased focus on getting Rude to date Tifa while reacting noticeably when she actually accepted the date request. And he still couldn't get Elena's "_one_ of you" comment out of his head.

Rude hoped Reno would answer his question in some obvious way to confirm all the elder Turk's suspicions. Perhaps Reno would grunt, or spit out his drink, or straight up agree, giving Rude the sign he needed.

For Reno's part, it took quite a bit of self-control to keep from flinching at Rude's suggestion. After a brief pause to calculate a response, Reno quirked his head.

"Hard pass," he said plainly. "Too much baggage with that one."

The lie tugged at his heart, even if he knew, objectively, she did carry emotional baggage.

Rude's eyes narrowed behind his dark sunglasses, sure he could tell Reno's heart was racing despite his outwardly cool and calm demeanor. He chalked it up to his own insecurities; he couldn't blame anyone else for Tifa being uninterested. There were many reasons why Tifa hadn't been more captivated by the bald Turk, but it all boiled down to their personality differences. It wasn't Reno's fault that Rude didn't talk much on his date with Tifa, or that she laughed and smiled more during her interactions with the redhead.

An uncomfortable silence hung over the two men as they finished their drinks and signaled for new ones.

"Hey, remember when we first met?" Reno asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

Rude snorted ever so softly.

"Heh," he said, raising his eyes from his newly poured glass to look straight ahead at the liquor cabinet behind the bar, "I thought you were an arrogant little twerp that was going to get us all killed."

Rude was picked for Turk recruitment just a few weeks before Reno as part of the same program that focused on gangbangers in the slums. Shinra's thinking was that the gang kids already knew how to fight and lacked most of their consciences, so giving them fancy homes and big paychecks could keep them loyal. It worked, thanks to Tseng's intensive research into possible recruits while he was Veld's second-in-command and assigned to oversee the program.

Rude and Reno were the first two successes of the program. Years later, Alvis, Emma, and Ruluf would all be hired as part of the same strategy.

"Well, look how wrong you were, cuz I haven't," Reno said with a sardonic smile.

"Yet," Rude added, the corner of his lip rising.

Reminiscing was common for the veteran Turks, yet it always ended with angst. Even though all the previously exiled Turks had been rehired, they hadn't been moved to Edge. They remained scattered around the world. What had once been a close family of misfits was now distant and disengaged. Reno kept up with them as part of his duties as current second-in-command, but gone were the days of working with the younger members on tough missions and organizing large office parties.

Reno and Rude's trips down memory lane inevitably led to one of them, this time Reno, saying, "Remember that time…" and telling a story about one of the other Turks. This example was about Balto, whom Reno still referred to by his nickname "Katana" based on his weapon choice. He rarely called them by their real names. He did use Maur's real name in Midgar during Meteor, but that was because things were too chaotic and urgent for casual teasing.

Even though the uneasiness that came with discussing the newly rehired former members brought them down, the stories they told from the old days eventually lifted their spirits.

With Rude suitably drunk and on his way home, Reno found himself trapped with unwelcome thoughts and feelings that kept cropping up on him, invading his mind like the kudzu vines threatening to choke the forests of Mideel.

_Monday_

Reno sat in his office in the new Shinra building, his feet propped up on his desk as usual. He was supposed to be looking through more of Hojo's research, but just as before, the words jumbled together just when he thought he was making progress. Hojo's notes were so dense, so heavy with his own scientific jargon, and written in such an odd script that they were more like ciphers than actual notes.

Reno's mind kept wandering back to Saturday night with Tifa and his growing concern that Rude was on to him. As much as he wanted to return to her bar and taste her lips again, he needed to give it a few days to let things cool down. Then he'd return to the bar, hoping to have her out of his system.

She'd be embarrassed about their secret, the dirty little secret that only they knew. She couldn't risk Rude finding out – or anyone else for that matter. The whole situation might just disappear as if it had never happened in the first place. At this moment, Reno hoped they could both simply move on.

"Reno, if you're not going to help look through the research, take Rude and go patrol!" Tseng called out from his office. He rarely kept his door open but had done so since they began sifting through Hojo's information just to keep the lines of communication open.

Reno's eyes lit up and he offered an exaggerated mock smile, wondering how Tseng could tell he wasn't making much headway. Patrolling the streets wasn't all that fun either, but it definitely beat sitting in the office reading. Of course, that also meant risking Rude asking to go into Seventh Heaven, but Reno was prepared to make excuses.

He gleefully stood up from his desk and sauntered out of the room with Rude following. He stuck his tongue out at Elena on his way out, but he knew she was happy to be left alone with Tseng again.

"Don't die," she said, returning to look at the papers in front of her. Her tone gave no indication that she cared whether they died or not.

The two left the building at a quickened pace. Rude was more subtle, but he hated spending his days at his desk pouring over Hojo's research notes as well. It wasn't their typical intel – that he enjoyed looking over, as did Reno – the journals left by Hojo were tedious and confusing, full of code words and undefined acronyms known only to the mad doctor.

"Ah, it's good to see the sun again," Reno beamed as he exited the building and stepped out to the sidewalk.

Just a few brave souls were on the street that day, walking briskly to their destination, their eyes darting around to look out for monsters.

It didn't take long for the Turks to find their first targets: An array of hedgehog pies causing trouble nearby. Their antics were pretty amusing, to be honest, as they sniggered and hopped along, grabbing and throwing anything they found. The Turks watched them outside one business; a small gift shop that was steadfastly remaining open despite the threat of destruction.

One of the pies climbed up onto the store's outdoor chalk board and was jumping up and down while another one found a piece of chalk and scribbled illegibly all over the store owner's handiwork. "Inside? Everything you need. Outside? Dunno, monsters," the sign said before the pies ruined it. A few others were trying to jump up to see into the store's window, their low cackle heard across the street. They chattered away as they continued their mischief.

When the store owner emerged to chase them off with a broom, however, things got ugly. The pies stopped snickering and bared their teeth at the owner while letting out a lengthy, menacing roar. Their eyes turned red and they latched onto the shop clerk, clawing at him with their hands and feet.

Reno and Rude ran over to the store and each kicked one of the pies down the sidewalk. Reno jammed his mag rod into another one, causing it to stretch out all its limbs and cry as volts surged through its body, its face twisted in pain and its plump little body convulsing. Rude punched another one of the hedgehog pies so hard it flew off the shopkeeper and into the window of the shop. It bounced off the glass without causing damage and got back to its feet, holding its head in pain. Rude ripped the last pie from the owner and spiked it.

The one that had hit the window regained its composure and leapt at Rude viciously, but the Turk easily parried the attack, sending the pie flying with a goofy cry. The remaining fiends chattered to each other and started running away as Reno began shooting at them with his pistol. They kicked the few dead pies that were in front of the store away from its entrance.

The only benefit to the increase in monster attacks was the emerging animal control industry. _Someone_ had to clean up all those dead creatures, and the Turks' work stopped at the killing part.

They continued down the main road but were thrown to the ground from behind by a pack of guard hounds.

"This is getting insane!" Reno said as his face was pressed onto the pavement, he cheek squished and causing his lips to protrude as he spoke.

Rude was also on the ground with a hound clawing at his back. Reno reached out his mag rod to electrocute the beast that was attacking his partner. Once he was back on his feet, the bald Turk returned the favor by kicking the hound that was tearing at Reno's suit collar. Reno leapt up and the two Turks killed the rest of the guard hounds easily, just like the zenenes they found in Hojo's Drum. It seemed like they were weakened by something. Rude examined the corpse of one of the beasts and found it was covered with lesions.

"What did this?" Rude asked his comrade. Reno shook his head.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around to find out," he said.

They managed to walk a couple blocks before they noticed something out of the ordinary. This particular block wasn't right. Nothing was moving, which was expected, but the Turks just happened to catch the anomaly out of the corner of their eye as they crossed to the next block. Something was amiss. This block had an extra house all of a sudden. It hadn't been there the last time they came this way, and it couldn't have been built that fast.

There was something else about the house that was off, besides the fact that it was in the middle of the side street. It looked rather dilapidated for the area, with crumbling panels and holes in the roof.

The duo slowed their walk but continued onward. They could hear the sound of wood and metal clattering behind them as if a bunch of materials were being shifted in a work zone. They turned around to see no movement, just that the odd house was no longer in the middle of the side street but closer to the corner they had just passed. They gave each other a confused look but turned back and walked forward once again. The sound returned. They spun around again and the "house" was now on the same street as them, even closer.

Reno and Rude narrowed their eyes at the building suspiciously, looked at each other, and then turned around once again. As expected, the sounds of moving lumber and metal started again, this time louder and more frantic. This time when they turned around, they could see the house was standing on four metal feet and had large pipe-like arms sticking out of the holes in the roof. A freakish metal head adorned with a massive glowing spike emerged from the transom.

Suddenly, the limbs retracted into the house and its windows began glowing orange as fire bolts started to rain down around it. Reno jumped into a nearby alley, rolling as he landed. Rude performed a roll dodge into the middle of the street. When he stood up, he noticed the cuff of his pant leg was on fire and shook his foot to put out the flame.

Reno ran at the – creature? Beast? Possessed construction? – with his mag rod charged and his pistol blasting, but the house rushed toward Rude, sending the bald Turk flying further into the street.

The windows turned green and Reno again darted toward the fiend, dodging to the side of the building and digging his mag rod straight through the wood siding. The monster opened its door and a gust of wind circled around the redhead, pulling him toward the house despite his best efforts to run the opposite direction. In an instant, he was pulled inside and the door slammed shut behind him.

Rude, meanwhile, provided a flurry of punches and kicks to the front of the hell house until it sputtered and collapsed into a pile of rubble. The elder Turk ran into the pieces of broken wood and began throwing them in all directions in a desperate attempt to locate his partner. A moment later, Reno emerged, gently lifting a board before Rude could grab it and looking dazed.

"Was that… sentient?" Reno asked, examining what was left behind.

He could not see any form of creature inside, even though the house had clearly been a fiend. All that lay on the ground before him was broken pieces of wood and piping.

Rude shrugged and turned away from the monster, thinking it was best not to think about it too hard. There were any number of wacky creatures in the world, maybe there really were sentient things that resembled homes.

They resumed their patrol warily, now suspicious of every building, car, and street sign. What else might come to life and attack them?

They had little time to ponder what they had just fought before they spotted a pride of zenene's casually strolling up the middle of the street. Every so often, one would break away to inspect a nearby building. At other times, they would fight each other if one bumped into another. Reno dreaded fighting them, finding them particularly difficult to look at now after Rude's comment in The Drum about their bright red hair. He was also startled by their presence in Edge – it meant at least some of Hojo's experiments had escaped the confines of his lab in the old Shinra building.

One of the emaciated creatures sniffed the air before snapping its head toward their direction and started to growl. The rest of the zenenes quickly followed suit, even a pair that had been in the midst of a fight. They were all staring at the Turks now, and began slinking toward them as they prepared to strike.

Reno groaned and readied his weapons once again. This town was getting way too dangerous. More importantly, it was taking up too much of his time – time he could be spending scheming and drinking.

Reno cracked his neck just before the first beast lunged at him. It got one good bite in, but a mag rod to the neck caused its swift demise. Due to their emaciated state, the zenenes fell quickly, but after hours of fighting, the Turks were exhausted regardless.

By now they were just a block away from Seventh Heaven. Salvation. Rude staggered toward the front door as the sky was turning dark. He paused when he realized Reno wasn't right beside him.

"You coming?" Rude asked, stiffly.

Reno remained on the sidewalk. Going in tonight – just two days after his encounter with Tifa – would be too soon. It was Monday, he needed to stay away until at least Thursday, giving her ample time to hate him and forget any notions of a relationship, if that was even on her mind at all. Though in all likelihood, that anger would surely be mixed with hope – hope that he hadn't gotten enough from her and hope that her suspicions that he was more than a Turk would be confirmed.

He hesitated and looked off down the street, back the way they had just come. He then looked down at his feet, trying to think of what he could say that would not arouse suspicion.

"Nah, I'm getting kinda bored with the talent here," Reno said. "I'm gonna go check out that new place on Mako and 5th."

Rude nodded and made a sound in his throat. He had been around Tifa without Reno before – just a couple days ago, in fact – and he could do it again. But things were different now, and he really wanted his friend's support despite his earlier misgivings.

Reno headed off back toward the new bar while Rude entered Seventh Heaven and took his usual stool at the bar. Tifa smiled warmly at him when he entered, but he noted something faint in her expression, like she was missing something. She continued to dry a glass with a dish rag and re-rack it before grabbing a new glass for Rude's scotch.

"Welcome back," she said in a rather chipper mood.

"Thanks," Rude replied, taking a sip of the drink Tifa placed in front of him.

She returned to assisting other customers for a while as Rude busied himself with his drink, unable to think of anything to say. Things seemed to be exactly as they had been before their date, with Tifa working and him trying to come up with conversation topics but failing.

She seemed to just breeze through the night, though Rude noticed she appeared to be waiting for someone. She kept looking at the door expectantly whenever someone entered. She had done that for a while after Cloud first left, but her need to check who was entering her establishment dissipated in the weeks and months after. Now she was at it again. Maybe she had heard from Cloud, Rude thought. Or maybe she was looking for someone else.

After a few hours – and more than a few drinks – Elena and Tseng entered Seventh Heaven and joined Rude. The bald Turk was now convinced he saw the smallest hint of displeasure escape Tifa's face when she acknowledged their presence.

He shook his head. He couldn't go down that road again just because his date with her hadn't gone that well. His mind simply must be playing tricks on him because he was exhausted and injured and now liquored up.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno didn't have a particular type of place he preferred. A popular bar like Seventh Heaven was fine, so was a dive bar, and so was a place like Elixir, a loud and harshly lit dance club. The only lights were neon colored and swirling around a dance floor and DJ booth. Black lights provided most of the illumination, but hot pink and lime green dazzled in quick flashes, cutting through the simulated fog. Reno made his way to the bar, which had a dark counter but bright white back lighting that nearly blinded him. He ordered his usual scotch and scoped out the dance floor, bringing his glass to his lips.

It was difficult to zero in on one woman in a situation like this, but Reno knew what he was looking for. He needed to get thoughts of Tifa out of his system before he could return to Seventh Heaven, otherwise he wouldn't be able to help himself and might abandon his carefully crafted plan to end things with the barmaid. His previous attempts to find other women to focus on had failed, but he was determined to keep trying to resume his previous ways to end whatever was going on in his head and making him soft.

He was scanning the room while leaning back on his elbows on the bar, dangling his glass over the edge casually. He wanted a specific type of woman, one that was similar enough to Tifa Lockhart, thinking if he could find one that look like her, maybe his brain would connect the two enough for him to stop imagining sex with the former AVALANCHE lieutenant.

There were several brunettes in his field of vision. One had short, curly hair. One was fat. One had no breasts. Another looked promising. She had long dark hair and a decent enough body. Her tits were practically hanging out of her leopard-print halter top. They weren't as big or perky as Tifa's. In fact, they kind of sagged. The skin on her face was also cracked and leathery from sun exposure, but she was pretty enough. She was a good enough look-a-like to satisfy him for the evening, so he weaved through the crowd until he was dancing with her.

She turned to look at him and smiled, approving of the man standing before her. They danced and kissed for a while before Reno popped the question. The woman readily agreed, and he led her to the bar to order her a drink. A few minutes after that, he was leading her to a back room, hoping to get this over with so he could go home and sleep.

The woman he pulled from the dance floor was satisfying enough. Once they were alone, she got on her knees and unzipped his fly without him even having to push her head down. It meant he didn't have to look at her face and could just watch long dark hair moving back and forth from his hips as her lips surrounded his cock. When she tried to look up at him he'd just push her head forward. He didn't need to see her. Her actions allowed him to close his eyes and think about Tifa in the same position. He was able to imagine that _she_ was in this storage closet on her knees before him. It was enough to get him close…

He grabbed this other woman under her arms and pulled her back into a standing position. He then turned her around so she was facing away from him, and he lifted her skirt. It was then that he noticed she had _no_ ass and a tattoo on her lower spine of a rose.

_Typical," _he thought, rolling his eyes.

He pulled a condom out of his pocket and unrolled it on his cock before entering the woman. Usually he would ensure the woman would be left thinking about him long after he left, and he reveled in the thought that he was often the best lay these women ever had. But this woman served a specific purpose, and he was desperate for her to get him to stop thinking about Tifa, even if that was an unfair requirement to impose on her.

She still came. He did as well a few minutes after, stopping himself from saying another woman's full name.

"Teeeee-fuck…!" he said as he filled the condom.

He caught his breath before pulling out of the woman, who turned around and tried to kiss him. He turned his face and removed the condom before tossing it into the back of the closet. He zipped up his fly, buckled his belt, and without another word, left the woman in the closet before quickly and silently slipping out of the club and into the night. The woman remained in the closet for a moment, feeling rejected and confused.

A larger police presence took over at night to keep the monster population down. Reno had no interest in fighting any more creatures tonight. He was spent, and just wanted to get home and get through the next few days. He was detoxing, in a sense, and wanted the worst to be over already.

He kept to the shadows and sides of buildings to avoid detection and managed to make it back to his apartment on the North Side of Edge with minimal interaction with fiends. Turk work had paid him quite well, and he lived in one of the more expensive apartment buildings in the city. He, of course, was too lazy to decorate, so he purchased a fully furnished unit. It was cold, sterile, and monotone, with light gray walls and Berber carpet and sleek, black leather sectionals. There were no photos of friends or interests hanging on his walls, and it was sparsely decorated, mostly with abstract paintings that lacked color. His bedroom was no different, with a dark gray bedspread that was unmade and modern dark wood furniture. A pile of dirty clothes was the only "decoration" in the room that he contributed.

Reno removed his suit jacket, gun holster, and mag rod as he entered his home, tossing the first two items carelessly on the couch. He brought the mag rod with him into his bedroom and set it gently on top of his dresser in its charging station. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on the pile of clothes that was just about in need of washing. He collapsed face-first on his bed after removing his pants and shoes and remained in that position until morning.

Three more days until he would allow himself to even consider seeing her beautiful face again.


	16. Sixty Hours

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 9/1/20: Edits throughout and added Reno's Thursday to this chapter instead of including in it the next one. Reno's motives have also been changed and additional scenes have been added.**

Chapter 16:

_Tuesday_

Reno woke up against his will. His whole body ached – from sitting in a desk all day, fighting monsters all afternoon, and then dancing and drinking and fucking a strange woman in a small storage closet while avoiding a mop bucket and boxes.

He looked over at his clock, which seemed to scream at him in bright red numbers: 8:53. He slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, too lazy to even properly roll them. His arm was extended toward the electronic device, but no alarm had been set for him to stop.

He should have set an alarm. He was already late for work. Oh well, at this point.

He rolled his head to look the other direction, his face brushing against the pillow as he did so. Light was streaming in through his blinds and he felt the need to scrunch his eyes. The heat was already getting to him. With a prolonged groan he rolled over onto his back and stared up at his ceiling.

He considered calling out of work. He didn't think he could take another day like yesterday, and it seemed like every day was now like yesterday. He'd go into the office, try to read through Hojo's chocobo scratch, think about Tifa, go on patrol with Rude, fight a crap ton of monsters, and then go to Seventh Heaven. The schedule had changed slightly, since he was no longer going to Seventh Heaven, but every day seemed to be on repeat, like some cycle he needed to break.

He needed to go to a different bar tonight. Elixir was too…dirty. Not in the physical sense, it was more like the people there were just… gross. The more he thought about his encounter the night before – he wouldn't even call it a conquest – the more he found the woman revolting. She couldn't hold a candle to Tifa Lockhart, and though he had gotten off, the satisfaction was fleeting.

If he were to fuck a different woman each night before Thursday, he shouldn't try to find one that looked like the girl he _really_ wanted. He considered _not_ sleeping with any women, since he no longer found it satisfying, but he figured forgoing sex would keep his mind focused like a laser on the one woman he was trying to forget. For the first time in his life, he actually regretted the way he treated the woman from the night before. She may not have been a saint, but she was a human being.

He groaned again, louder this time. He'd been an asshole since before he could remember, he couldn't possibly be growing that conscience he heard so much about over the years.

He figured at this point that he should get the day over with. He sighed heavily and sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He placed his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers through his hair before clasping the back of his neck.

This day was just starting. Sixty hours until he would allow himself to return to Seventh Heaven. He knew that setting a date and counting down the hours wouldn't help his addiction, but he told himself that by Thursday he would have her out of his system, so it wouldn't matter.

His whole body lagged as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head, intertwining his fingers in the air and then leaning to each side to deepen the stretch. He was stalling. He dragged his feet into his slate-tiled bathroom and discarded his boxer briefs. He stepped into the shower and let the cold water run down his lean, naked frame to wake him up before it warmed, letting his mind wander back to that night at Seventh Heaven with Tifa in his arms. Of course, he let his imagination run toward the dreams he had experienced after that went further than reality.

He shook his head before knocking his fist against the shower wall to clear the thought. He couldn't spend the next few days thinking about her – he'd never make it. Only hopeless romantics thought about someone this much and Reno was no hopeless romantic. He had never spent more than a few hours thinking about any particular woman – and that stopped once he bed her. He hated this hold she had on him. Hopefully the next two days would bring him back to his usual self. She was a trophy and nothing else, or so he told himself.

He took his time scrubbing his skin and washing his hair. He was already late, might as well skip the desk aspect all together. He let the water run over his face as he closed his eyes and opened his mouth. He could be in a shampoo commercial, he thought as he enjoyed the warmth.

Reno shut off the water and grabbed a towel, drying his face and then rubbing it against his scalp. He stepped out of the shower onto the cool stone floor and wrapped the towel around his slim hips, below his Adonis Belt, as he walked over to the sink and placed a hand on either side, looking at himself in the mirror. He looked like hell, but he usually woke up like that. People didn't realize how much life his hair provided to his look and persona. When it was damp, it just looked awkward.

Of course, with Tifa… Dammit! There she was in his head again. With her, even the lack of volume in his locks didn't keep him from being himself. Strangely, she didn't tease him about his hair, even though she had plenty of material to work with. He certainly _felt_ like a drenched rat that night at Seventh Heaven – for many reasons.

He slapped his cheek, hard. Then he slapped the other one. A couple more firm palms to each side of his face in an attempt to get her out of his head again.

He was pathetic.

He finished getting ready for work by the time his hair had nearly regained its usual shape. He grabbed a cup of coffee and headed downstairs. His car was still at the Shinra building, so he'd have to walk.

He started to perk up to his usual cockiness as he strolled down the street with caffeine in his system and a cigarette between his lips. He finished the cigarette and flicked it into the street before he entered the new Shinra building. Whether he felt completely like himself or not, he acted in his usual manner as he passed the front receptionist and anyone else on his way to the Turk's office. Elena and Rude looked up when he entered the room – he carried himself as if he were perfectly on time – but quickly returned to their work. Reno eased himself into his chair and was raising his feet up to his desk when a voice bellowed from the adjoining office.

"Reno, would you please come in here?" Tseng said in a tone that was somehow both pleasant and stern at the same time.

Reno lifted himself up and took a last sip of his coffee before carelessly tossing it into a nearby trashcan and strolling into Tseng's office.

"What's up, boss?" Reno asked, placing his hands in his pockets and approaching Tseng's desk. He appeared contrite, with a hint of confusion, as if he truly didn't know why Tseng would call him in.

Tseng looked up at him, his face showing no hint of what he was about to say. He laced his fingers in front of his chin and rested his elbows on his desk.

"What's with you lately?" Tseng asked.

"Whatcha mean, boss?" Reno's tone didn't change.

"You're distracted," Tseng accused.

_That bitch_, now she was interfering with his work. Reno shook off Tseng's comment and maintained his stance.

"Nah, I'm just bored," he said. "Reading Hojo's doodles isn't my idea of 'Turk stuff.'"

"I know," Tseng said, sighing and leaning back in his chair. "I hate it, too."

Reno was not expecting that. Even with Tseng's lack of expression he assumed he was about to get reamed.

Tseng stood up and walked around his desk to Reno, sitting back on the wooden frame.

"It shouldn't be too much longer. We're almost finished going through everything, and that should tell us how to stop the monster attacks," Tseng said.

Tseng was like Rude; he didn't usually say too much. He only said what was necessary, nothing more.

"I hope so," Reno said.

"Me too," Tseng said. "Just try to hang in there a little longer and I'll see if I can get Rufus to approve some real 'Turk stuff.'"

Tseng's words – however hollow they may have been – gave Reno a little motivation. The redhead's expression lifted as he turned to walk out of Tseng's office.

"Oh, could you do something for me?" Tseng asked as Reno was halfway out the door. Tseng and Rufus, always leaving one last comment to the very end. Reno twisted to face his boss, nodding.

"Sure."

"I'd like you to call Juget. I told her to see if she could find anything that might be of use in Professor Gast's old home."

Reno nodded again and returned to his desk. He had a particular fondness for Juget, since not only had he not slept with her, but she was more like one of the guys than any of the other female Turks. She was attractive, for sure, but she was the only woman Reno would actually enjoy having a beer alone with – without any expectations.

He sat down in his chair and rolled closer to the desk in order to reach his phone. He cradled the receiver against his shoulder and leaned back in his chair, bringing his feet up to the desk as he waited for her to pick up.

"This is Juget," she said tersely on the other end. Reno chuckled. Same old Juget.

"Heyyyy Martial Arts! How ya been?" he asked cheerfully, waiting for her disdainful reply. He was rewarded with a groan and an eyeroll he could practically hear over the phone. "Find anything at Gast's place?"

"Nothing," Juget said. Reno remained silent for a few seconds to indicate she needed to elaborate. She was even more brusque than Tseng. "The building was purchased by a local timber company for front office space."

"What happened to all of the professor's stuff?" Reno asked, finding an emptiness in his stomach at the news.

Gast was murdered before Reno joined the Turks, but he had learned about the scientist as a rookie. When Tseng said he had sent Juget to inspect Gast's old home, Reno thought they might find something actually useful, since Gast was a far superior scientist to Hojo – both in talent and morality.

"Office manager helped me locate a box. Everything else was donated or had already been taken, probably by Hojo when he raided the place," Juget informed him. "The box had nothing of value."

"Damn," Reno said, more to himself than to her. "Well, thanks for checkin', anyway."

Juget hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Reno returned the receiver to its dock and leaned back in his chair with some heft, causing the seat to bounce slightly.

The conversation caught Rude's attention and he looked over at his redheaded colleague. Elena was in her own world of colored pens, highlighters, index tabs, and the odd rush she got from organizing.

"What happened to the Faremis place?" the bald Turk asked.

"It's all gone," Reno replied. "Like he never fuckin' existed."

Rude released an agitated but sympathetic grunt in response. He wasn't a fan of decoding Hojo's notes or the daily patrols either. Tseng's mention of Gast's old lab started him thinking about other potential labs in the world where more useful information could exist.

"Can't _anything_ be memorialized in this fuckin' world?" Reno interrupted, slamming the butt of his fist against his desk for emphasis.

The redhead could practically _feel_ the pinch of Rude's eyebrows from behind his partner's shades, asking a question Reno didn't want to answer.

"Something wrong?" the bald Turk asked.

"Nah, forget it, let's just go patrol."

"Take Elena with you!" Tseng called from his office as Reno and Rude were getting ready to leave.

The blonde made a face to quietly express her dismay with the order.

At least with Elena, the Turks had access to some more materia, which made things much easier, though neither Rude nor Reno would admit it. She healed them between herds of elfadunks and Kalm fangs and more hedgehog pies and another one of those Goddamned _houses_. Even with the healing, the three were exhausted by the time they stood in front of Seventh Heaven.

Reno made a similar excuse as he had done the night before, prompting a hard look from Elena. She may have known Reno's feelings for Tifa, but that didn't mean she understood men and their courtship ways. She entered the bar with Rude, knowing she was in for a long silent night until hopefully Tseng arrived. Their boss had been tense ever since the team was relegated to reading duty, and needed to drink more than ever.

Reno, meanwhile, found a dive bar near his house, made eye contact with the first decent-looking woman there (she was on par with the woman the night before, but with blonde hair and implants) and began his usual process of seduction. It didn't take long for the woman to sidle up next to him at the bar, batting her false eyelashes at him accompanied with a flirtatious smile. Halfway through the drink he purchased for her, they were already making out.

As Reno tasted the fruity cocktail she had ordered mixed with his own scotch and a mutual cigarette flavor, his mind began to wander. The sounds of bar murmuring and the song playing on the speakers vanished, though if he had kept listening, he would have heard lyrics perfectly attuned to his current situation. It was as if the entire world ceased to exist around him, becoming nothing but a dark chasm that stretched in all directions. His mind blanked for a moment and he lost focus, his tongue still hovering in the woman's mouth.

His thoughts raced, filled with images of Tifa and the realization that the void he'd spent his whole life trying to fill with various vices was emptier than ever. Alcohol was no longer numbing the pain, and the thought of having sex with another strange woman made him want to vomit. The recognition hit him all at once and a panic began to set in. Suddenly, being the epitome of a hardcore Turk wasn't looking so admirable. This wasn't what he wanted anymore. But if the things he'd filled his time with previously were no longer desirable, what _did_ he want?

He opened his eyes and slowly pulled out of the kiss, his hand still on the woman's neck. The song and bar sounds crescendoed quickly, leaving him slightly disoriented. He searched her eyes for something, his own pupils darting back and forth between hers in an attempt to find something other than the hollowness staring back at him. She looked confused, but not completely disappointed, like the action barely registered.

"I'm sorry," Reno heard himself say, still trying to find salvation in the woman's eyes. "I can't do this."

His forehead wrinkled with uncertainty, his mouth slightly agape as he finally put the pieces together of a shattered life that could not be mended with alcohol or sex. Now the woman stared at him with a stupefied expression betraying her anger, one eye narrowing as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

Reno didn't stick around long enough to explain or to hear her questions – he needed more than she could offer. Instead, he dropped some gil on the bar to pay his tab and simply left the establishment. He could hear her following him out of the bar shouting obscenities at him, but he tuned her out and returned home, flopping onto his bed and trying to gather his thoughts before falling into a fitful sleep.

_Wednesday_

_"Same shit, different day,"_ Reno thought as he reached out a weary arm, fumbling to find his alarm clock and the button on top that would shut off that incessant beeping. He gave up trying to reach the alarm button – he wasn't about to actually _move_ to get to it – and settled on knocking it off the end table. His shove was too weak, however, and the clock instead dangled from the table by its cord, which was still plugged into the wall.

Reno let out his usual morning wail and pulled himself to the edge of the bed so he could reach the clock and pull it from the wall.

That shut it up. Smug little gadget.

He dragged himself into the bathroom and into the shower, again lingering as the water travelled down his body in streams. He considered taking care of himself in the absence of a desired partner, but it just wasn't his style. He didn't need to do that since he had always been able to find a woman, though only one woman was captivating him at the moment. He did spend a little extra time cleaning his manhood; he was a guy, after all.

He stepped out of the shower, drying his face and hair before wrapping the towel around his waist and stepping to the mirror. He had a pack of cigarettes waiting for him on the edge of the sink – a little gift from Tuesday Reno – and lit one up, holding the rolled tobacco in his mouth with one hand while the other brought the lighter up to the tip. He watched the flame of the light dance for a moment before flipping the top closed.

He dressed and grabbed a cup of coffee before again making the trek to work.

"You think the Gods will ever forgive us for we've done?" he asked Rude after a few hours of seriously working on Hojo's notes.

In the absence of other distractions, he dove headfirst into his work – just like he used to. He didn't go above and beyond like Elena, but he did keep his own notebook of information he thought might be valuable.

"Since when do you care about redemption?" Rude asked.

"Just a question, yo."

Rude brought his fist to rest under his chin in thought a moment. "I think some might."

"Yeah, but which ones?" Reno asked as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling as if the answer would formulate in the tiles.

"Carbuncle, maybe."

Reno shot his partner a glare.

They took Elena on patrol again. The whole episode nearly passed Reno by as if he were standing still the entire time with the rest of the world moving on double or triple speed. People, monsters, even some vehicles seemed to fly past him in a blur as he walked at a normal pace down the main street of Edge. Elena appeared to be speaking, but her words weren't even registering, so consumed Reno was with his epiphany from the night before.

Some ark dragons attacked them from above but were put in their place. Some sahagins crawled up from the sewer, leaving their stench behind even after they were killed and the Turks were several blocks away. A stampede of levrikons gave them the most trouble, as their size, speed, and numbers managed to separate the Turks and knock them to the ground. Rude was trampled by at least two of the beasts before Elena was able to burn one to death.

Reno came out of his stupor to dash between the birds to get to his friend, stabbing any that came close with his mag rod. He helped Rude to his feet and dodged the massive birds to move him to the side of the road, under the awning of a building where the levrikons weren't running.

"You okay, partner?" he asked. Rude simply waved him off as if his concern were a burden.

Reno then leapt back into the fray, emptying his pistol and stabbing wildly with his EMR as if he were taking personal revenge for Rude's injury. Elena kept casting various magic spells to take out more of the birds as they continued their run into the city.

Rude finally recovered enough – with the help of a cure spell – to return to the battle. He kicked one levrikon in the neck, killing it instantly, then twisted to kick another in the wing, which merely caused it to stumble.

"Why the fuck is everything going the same way?" Reno growled before jumping onto the back of one of the birds and holding on for dear life to find out where the creatures were going.

With two handfuls of scruff and feathers, Reno felt a smile escape his lips, the thrill he got from riding the bird overtaking his pensive mood. Within seconds he was cheering himself on. He could be a chocobo jockey with these skills. He was hundreds of feet away from Rude and Elena now, and coming up on the Meteor statue in the center of Edge. The bird showed no sign of dodging the statue, but Reno saw the herd moving swiftly around it up ahead and tightened his grip.

The levrikons were soon approaching the wall outside Old Midgar and began running down various side streets with seemingly no plan. The bird Reno was on followed a few others down a narrow alley that had several fire escapes on the sides of the buildings. The Turk dodged the first one but had to jump off his mount to avoid the second one. He landed unceremoniously in a pile of garbage bags.

He stood up, now smelling of garbage _and_ the sewer (stupid sahagins) only to notice that the birds were gone. He dusted off his suit and walked back to the main road (sidling along the wall just in case more ran down the alley) to look around. He saw just one more levrikon, running down the alley on the opposite street. It was limping and had singe marks on its side. The bird stumbled out of view, kicking up dust as it went.

"Well, it's the cops' problem now," Reno said, reaching his hands behind his head and sauntering back in the direction of Rude and Elena. At least he managed to have some fun, even if he did now stink.

He stopped, realizing he was close enough to his apartment that he could go and clean up before meeting up with them.

Rude and Elena were waiting for him outside Seventh Heaven, still looking disheveled. He relished the scowls on their faces as he realized he had not only kept them waiting, but he was now the only clean one of the bunch.

"Hiya guys!" he said with a jaunty little step in his gait.

"Where _were_ you?" Elena glowered, her hands on her hips.

"The birds ran all the way to Midgar. I jumped off in an alley and they were gone, so I went home and showered," Reno said as if it were no big deal.

"We were _waiting_ for you," Elena snarled. Reno shrugged. "Fine! I'm going home to clean up too, I am _not_ sitting around that bar all filthy."

"Maybe you should try it," Reno teased. "Might get Tseng's attention."

Elena gasped before stomping her foot and sulking in the opposite direction, back toward her home. Rude had let out a little smirk at Reno's comment and Elena's subsequent pout.

"Will you be joining us tonight?" Rude asked, crossing his arms. Reno put his hands in his pockets and slouched.

"Nah, still seeking talent elsewhere," he claimed.

Rude grunted before heading home to clean up as well. He hadn't been able to talk to Tifa since their date and was fairly sure a woman wouldn't be too enamored with a man that smelled like a sewer lizard.

Reno started walking home, lighting a cigarette before Seventh Heaven was even a block away. He put his hands back in his pockets and held the cigarette between his lips, inhaling and exhaling without ashing. Eventually a long trail of ash, which had been desperately holding on to the paper, fell from the cigarette but missed Reno's leg by a hair's breadth. The redheaded Turk continued walking toward his home but stopped when the shadow of Old Midgar began to loom ahead. Trying to sleep with various women was not going to get him over the barmaid, and what happened to Gast's old home in Icicle still weighed heavily on his mind. The fact that the professor's house was turned into an office for a damned lumber company just didn't sit right, especially at the moment.

Reno stopped just outside the gate to Old Midgar and stared up at the wall. From this angle, just the top of the hollowed-out former Shinra building could be seen, an ever-present symbol of what sins wrought. He sighed and placed a hand on the heavy metal door next to the old Sector 5 gate, without applying the pressure necessary to open it. After a brief pause, he pushed the door open and stepped through, taking in the sight of what had become of the old metropolis.

Sector 5 was not his destination; he slipped easily into Sector 6, taking care to give wide berth to Wall Market. It had been somewhat rebuilt after Meteor, since Edge didn't have such an "entertainment" district. The Honeybee Inn had been too badly damaged for Andrea to salvage, so he opened a club in Edge. But for those who missed the seedier aspects of Wall Market, they could find them so long as they were willing to brave the old city. As it stood, the place was mostly frequented by the degenerates who lived in the old slums. Reno didn't want the allure of cheap thrills and bright lights to act as a siren tonight.

He approached the gate that separated Sector 6 from Sector 7 and stopped. This was where it all started to go wrong. It was here when he first started to question his employer – and himself. The thought didn't escape him that it was also the place where he first encountered Tifa.

So much pain and misery – caused by his actions. He took a deep breath and stepped back from the wall to look up. The gate had been crushed by debris from the plate drop, which was now stacked up to block passage into the sector. The sector looked as it did before Meteorfall, since there wasn't anything left to wreck on the Chosen Day.

Reno shook his head and turned to look over his shoulder to where the playground used to stand. The moogle slide and old tires were long gone, buried under rubble from the calamity. The redhead couldn't see much of the ground in the area, but the pieces of debris weren't too big. He scanned the area, imagining how it used to look. Reeve was an idiot to not want to clean this place up. So many people living in Edge had been affected by the collapse of Sector 7 specifically, and even though Meteor took care of the rest of the city, Reno couldn't help feeling haunted.

It was getting dark, and the lanky Turk could only imagine the kinds of fiends that would appear in the ruined slums of Old Midgar at night. He made a quick exit back to Edge, sneaking past a gang that seemed more interested in drinking and rough housing with each other than searching for victims.

Back in Edge, Reno shoved his hands in his pockets and headed toward his apartment. The past two days had been both eye opening and depressing, and he hoped tomorrow would bring him the clarity he so desired now.

_Meanwhile…_

Elena couldn't help herself anymore. This was the second day in a row Reno had declined to join them at Seventh Heaven, and she knew from Rude that he hadn't gone on Monday. It was throwing off her entire theory. She had to know, even though she knew what it might mean to Rude. She was just too damn curious.

"So, what's going on with Reno?" she asked as innocently as she could manage.

"Let it go, Elena," Tseng scolded. He had joined them about an hour ago.

Elena couldn't just "let it go." Something had happened. Either between Rude and Reno or Reno and Tifa. It was eating at her. She couldn't even concentrate on Tseng with this question nagging at her.

"You had a date with her, but you still haven't even told me how it went," she pried further.

"Elena!" Tseng said, more severely.

Elena sat back in her seat and pouted. She watched Rude's face, hoping to get an answer from him, but he offered little in the way of expressions. Still, she thought she detected a hint of confusion on his own face, as if he had his own questions about Reno's absence. She could tell his date hadn't gone that well based on how he and Tifa interacted. It was as if the date never happened. Tifa had been getting more relaxed around the Turks over the past five months, but there had been no significant change in the past week after that date. Elena felt bad for Rude, knowing how much he liked the barmaid. She wanted to blame Tifa for the date going poorly (assuming she probably wasn't over Cloud yet) but knew that Rude probably just wasn't able to speak around her.

Reno's absence, however, was fascinating Elena. Maybe he was protesting for Rude, or jealous that Tifa had gone on the date? Maybe Reno was now tongue-tied around the brunette bartender, though Elena found that implausible. She drifted back to her theory that something had happened between Tifa and Reno, something Rude didn't know about but may now suspect as well. If something _had_ happened between the two, why would Reno be avoiding Seventh Heaven? Maybe whatever happened between them was unsatisfactory? Maybe she had been wrong about Reno's feelings for Tifa all along. Maybe he had slept with her and was now done pursuing her.

Elena didn't buy that either. Tifa was still too in love with Cloud Strife to give it up to a guy like Reno, whether she had a sex dream about him or not. Elena assumed Tifa was a prude. She carried herself like one of _those_ girls, for sure. Not that Elena was any better, and perhaps that was part of the reason she disliked Tifa. The barmaid was just like her in that department, but far more successful.

Elena wanted to know the answer, but she was not going to discover it tonight. She instead spent the rest of her evening flirting with Tseng, who seemed to be lost in his own little world. Elena rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. What an awful day.

_Thursday_

Reno still hated waking up to an alarm. Why had he plugged it back in? And then set it? He stretched up to support himself on his arms, reached for the alarm, and ripped it out of the wall again.

He showed it who was boss.

He sat back on his heels and stretched, flexing the muscles on his chest and back. It was another sunny day in Edge, and when he glanced toward the window, he felt at peace. He fell back down on his bed. Maybe he could just sleep the day away and get his thoughts in order.

He didn't know whether he had found clarity in a dream or if a decent night's sleep – free of alcohol and sex – cleared his head, but he came to a decision.

If he couldn't get Tifa out of his head by traditional means, then he'd stop trying. It was time to just give in and hope he wouldn't drown. He'd been playing in the deep end his whole life; he couldn't just keep treading water.

The decision gave him a new sense of purpose. He'd return to Seventh Heaven tonight and hope she hadn't given up on him in his absence. He wasn't planning on doing anything in front of Rude, but he was going to stop pretending he wasn't interested.

He knew what that might do to his partner, but at this rate, Reno didn't think _he_ could keep on his current path. Years in a slum gang followed by a decade and a half at Shinra had all been upended in a matter of months, and the possibility of a different, better life was far too enticing. Maybe Rude wouldn't find out – at least not until he was completely over Tifa.

But Reno had disappeared for days after he kissed her; it must have affected her negatively. If he was even going to _attempt_ to show her there was more to him than just a murderous Turk, he couldn't keep antagonizing her or simply making lewd comments. He needed to be something outside his comfort zone – he needed to show he could be thoughtful and considerate.

He picked up his PHS and clicked on one of his contacts.

"Hey Shotgun!"

Click.

He called back. No answer. His eye twitched. He called again. No answer. His nostrils flared. He called again.

"WHAT?" the woman on the other end yelled.

"Heyyyy I got a favor to ask ya," Reno said quickly, holding his breath in the hopes she wouldn't hang up.

"Fuck you."

"Awww come on, for old times' sake?"

"What do you need?" Shotgun said with a heavy sigh.

It took some coaxing (and letting her curse him for a while followed by the promise of an embarrassingly large payment), but she agreed.

Reno hung up and pumped his fist in victory. He walked into the bathroom with a certain amount of swagger and removed his boxer briefs before entering his shower. He took extra care to ensure he was squeaky clean and smelling of, uh, whatever Rogue Mountain smelled like.

He exited the shower and wrapped the towel around his waist as usual. He walked to the mirror and looked at the scruff growing along his chin. He rubbed a hand over it and considered growing a beard, a thought he had at least once a week. But the stubble was too sparse to leave for a day. He'd grown a beard once, long ago. It took about a month to fill in properly. He wasn't going through _that_ again, especially not by starting today. He lathered his face and shaved carefully but thoroughly. He slapped on a little after shave (Suave Panther, which he thought may have smelled like wood chips and some kind of plant) and walked to his dresser. He slipped on a pair of dark gray boxer briefs before heading to his closet.

He pulled out a freshly pressed white dress shirt and dark blue fitted suit. He buttoned the shirt up, leaving the top three undone, and put on the suit. He selected his favorite belt (no one knew it was his favorite) and buckled it, adjusting his pants so that the buckle sat nice and low.

He finished with socks and recently shined shoes, sprayed some cologne (Spice Noir? He couldn't even guess, but it worked in the past), holstered his pistol and secured his mag rod, and then headed to work after stopping for coffee.

He realized he arrived at the building just half-an-hour after he was supposed to be there. Too soon, might look suspicious. He hung back and smoked a cigarette, slowly. Still too early. He finished his coffee. Not yet. He looked around for something to do for a few more minutes and spied the store that had been attacked by the hedgehog pies a couple days earlier. He could kill some time looking at trinkets.

He entered the store and coughed. It smelled of earth and some candle a woman he once slept with had lit by her bed. It was rather pleasant, but overwhelming. The shop had all sorts of knick knacks, an obvious tourist trap. From statues of landmarks around Edge and Midgar to tacky t-shirts and fake license plates to some artisan brand soaps, the store had something for every poor sap who was prepared to drop gil just to prove they visited the city.

And then he saw them.

Had it been months ago, he might have smashed the display and threatened the owner's life, but today he found them hilarious.

Miniature bobbleheads – of all the AVALANCHE members.

"Oh. My. God," Reno said to himself, bending over to get a closer look. There was Cloud, Barret, Vincent, Cid – even that lion thing. Some appeared less popular than others. Reno was only looking for one.

There she was.

There was only one left. He grabbed it. She'd freak out. All part of the plan.

He paid for it and buried it in his inner suit pocket before heading into work. This day just kept getting better.

"What the hell, Reno?" Elena asked when he passed her desk. "What's with that smell?"

"I smell _nice_," he retorted. She wasn't going to bring him down. Not today.

"It's assaulting my nostrils."

"Yes, but after we patrol, it will mix with my natural manly musk –"

"Sweat," Elena interrupted.

"Natural manly _musk_ and I'll smell like regular ol' me," he said, grinning.

Reno figured he may have gone overboard and hoped it would dissipate a little before Rude, who was out of the room at the moment, came too close.

No such luck.

Rude walked out of Tseng's office and Reno's heart started beating a little faster. They couldn't know anything was different about today. Rude sat down at his desk with just a nod and his usual grunt to Reno, apparently none the wiser.

Tseng came out of his office and cleared his throat. Elena immediately spun her chair around to face him – a little too eagerly for Reno's taste.

"It looks like today's the last day we have to look through Hojo's research," Tseng said. The three seated Turks all cheered. Reno looked up and thanked the Gods. "Rufus thinks he's found something, but he hasn't said what, yet."

"So, what do we do when we're done?" Elena asked.

"We're on patrol duty for another week, then we'll accompany Rufus to Junon. He wants to consult with the scientists there."

Well, it was something a little more – Turk-y. Anything to break up the monotony of the past week.

"Finish up whatever documents you still have and then go on patrol," Tseng said before turning back into his office.

Reno threw what was left of Hojo's papers in the air after he found nothing in them. He pulled out the bottle of scotch he had stashed in his desk and poured himself a drink, gloating to Elena the whole time.

"First!" he said after his first victory sip. Elena smirked.

"I bet you say that to a lot of women," she said.

Reno thought of a snappy comment, but before he could say anything, he had a flash memory of that time Tifa made a similar joke a few months ago.

"No comeback?" Elena asked.

"I could say something, but I choose not to in front of polite company," he said, lifting his chin smugly. Not today, Elena. Not today.

Elena scoffed.

Reno was practically _vicious_ on patrol, like a man possessed.

"I'm just _sick_ of this shit, yo," he said when Rude asked what had gotten into him today. "I want to get back to the Turk Stuff."

The answer seemed to satisfy his comrades.

The trio spun around to see a small swarm of gorgers running toward them from a side street. Reno was _not_ going to let those bugs ruin all his hard work, so he danced around them, kicking any that tried to attack him but not so hard that he'd break their outer shell. Elena thankfully cast Ice to kill them in their tracks. No messy explosions splattering bug guts everywhere.

Another pride of zenenes attacked them, but they appeared even more emaciated than the last pack – almost like they were suffering from some disease.

"Just like the guard hounds," Rude said after the fiends were lying dead on the street.

"You've seen this before?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, the other day," Reno said. "They had lesions just like these and were pretty weak."

"Hmm," Elena said, bringing a hand to her chin. "I wonder if Rufus knows anything about this."

"As long as I don't catch whatever they have," Reno said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of a corpse.

It was getting late when they finally reached Seventh Heaven. Rude and Elena didn't even bother to ask Reno if he would join them. Instead, they just walked up the steps and toward the door. Reno was hot on their heels, however.

"You're joining us tonight?" Elena asked. His behavior was _really_ confusing her.

"Yeah, I looked around. This place is as good as any as far as loose women go," Reno shrugged.

Rude didn't say anything. He reached for the door and opened it.

Reno's heart started to flutter – which he hated – and he felt that tingling feeling in his gut. What was it? Nerves? He hated that, too.

His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared when he saw what was inside. He and his comrades rushed in; weapons drawn.


	17. Tifa's Week

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 9/7/2020: Edits throughout. New scenes added with Marle as well as some more angsty thoughts from Tifa.**

Chapter 17:

_Sunday_

_Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap._

The rain was still falling pretty heavily outside when Tifa's eyes begrudgingly fluttered open. Her eyes felt strained and puffy, as if her eyelids were telling her to just close them again. The sky outside cast a cool gray light over her bedroom – enough to see, but not enough to lift her spirits. At least today was her day off.

She opened the bar on Sundays only during soccer season to lure patrons in to watch the games, taking Tuesday off instead (Monday: Monday, Wednesday: Hump day, Thursday: Almost Friday). It was the only day she could spend cleaning her home, which wasn't very messy due to her ongoing regimen of tidiness. She'd use her day off to catch up on taking stock of supplies, running errands, and, if she were lucky, taking a few minutes to herself.

Thankfully, it was not soccer season.

Her body ached from being pressed into a hardwood floor, and she could still taste a faint hint of cigarettes.

Reno…

What the hell had she allowed him to do to her? She felt as though she had been drunk and made a bad decision – she certainly felt hungover, but it was not from alcohol. It was from guilt, shame, and the loneliness that had cropped back up into her heart. Being near Reno these days always seemed to create a whirlwind of emotions in her, both good and bad. She found herself missing him, wishing he were lying next to her. No, that wasn't it, she just missed not being alone.

Reno had not only been the first man to kiss her in about year, but he had also simply _been_ there. In a strange, unexplainable way, Tifa's guilt over moving on even the slightest from Cloud made it feel like he was in the room with her. Not in a literal sense, but as though he were omnipresent, like a God, just enveloping the entire bar. It made her feel less alone than she had felt in a long time, as if she were with both Cloud and Reno at the same time. Not like _that_, it was merely the feeling that they were both in the room and they both cared for her.

Except she didn't think either of them really cared for her.

And now she felt more alone than ever. They were both gone. Reno had only been gone a few hours, but she had this overwhelming urge to see him again and to have him hold her.

She turned to her right, to look at the side of the bed where Cloud used to sleep. Despite the size, she only ever slept on one side of the bed anyway and hadn't wanted to cover up Cloud's… essence (again, not like _that_) that emanated from his side. If she were to sleep there, it would be like this was just _her_ bed and not _their_ bed. It would mean he was truly gone.

She needed to work through the emotions swirling inside her brain. What did last night's kiss with Reno mean? Did he like her? Did she _want_ that? What did he want from her? And why was she even wondering all this?

She lifted her head slightly to reach behind and remove the pillow from underneath her (she wouldn't dare take Cloud's) and brought it to her face to muffle a scream. She didn't want to be having these thoughts about Reno, or to feel that little bit of heat below her belt when he was around – especially when he was on top of her the night before.

She sat up and rubbed her forehead, feeling a matted chunk of hair that had been hanging down over her face. She had gone to bed with her hair wet and unbrushed, and she would pay for it today.

She also at that moment realized that she forgot to brush her teeth the night before, even after her desperate trip to the general store for toothpaste. Perhaps if she hadn't run her errand and gotten soaked in the rain, things wouldn't have happened the way they did. No, that wasn't likely, since Reno would have been waiting for her whether she was dry or wet. He had clearly come to her home with an agenda that night and she didn't think a dry top would have changed things.

She got out of bed and stretched her arms up over her head and then rotated them forward and back behind her, clasping her fingers and arching her back. She showered, again trying to scrub the guilt from her skin. She finally gave up and exited the shower to look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were less red and puffy, but her eyelids were heavy and her expression was haunted. She decided to lay back down. Maybe the next time she woke up she'd feel better.

No sooner had her head hit the pillow did her phone vibrate. At first she thought that maybe it was a text, possibly another from Reno. Either way, she didn't want to read it right now. But when it buzzed again, she realized it was a phone call, and lazily grabbed it off her bedside table and brought it to her ear that wasn't sunken into the pillow.

"Hello?" she asked groggily.

"Yo, girl! How ya been?" she heard Barret's booming voice through the phone.

She was glad to hear her friend's voice, but that first word he said – "yo" – was definitely _not_ a word she wanted to hear right now.

"Good," she lied in response.

"Glad to hear it! Listen, I was thinking of coming to Edge in a couple a weeks. Marlene's been _beggin'_ to see her Aunt Tifa," Barret said.

Tifa sat up, her wet mass of hair falling over her shoulder as she cradled the phone to her ear.

"Really?" she asked. Seeing her old friend and his wonderful little girl might be just the thing to perk her up. Besides, it would definitely give her something to look forward to.

"Yeah! The monsters are getting worse in Corel and Kalm. Marlene was hoping you could teach her some fighin' moves."

"I'd love to," Tifa agreed.

"Great! We'll be in town next Friday night. See ya then!"

Tifa closed her PHS and set it back on the nightstand. She hadn't seen Barret in a while. He had visited back when Cloud's headaches were first starting, but Cloud was still in a pretty good mood back then and took Barret's teasing in stride.

Tifa stared off into space, thoughtfully. Marlene was six now; precocious and inquisitive. Tifa worried about the questions the little girl would ask when she realized Cloud was no longer around. She dreaded that conversation. For adults, she would just repeat the answers she had given Vincent when he came to ask her to accompany him to Nibelheim, but a child like Marlene wouldn't accept those responses. How many "whys" would it take to make Tifa cry?

_Flashback…_

Cloud and Tifa were sitting on the floor of the bar drinking the night before the furniture was supposed to arrive. They were already several drinks in each and laughing over the old days.

"Hey, let me ask you something," Cloud said, using his drink to motion toward Tifa.

"Shoot," she responded, still laughing from their last discussion.

"Remember back when we were young…"

"We're still young, Cloud."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember way back when, when you came with us to blow up the reactor?"

Tifa didn't like where she thought this conversation was going. The old days were one thing, but anything relating to the time around Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie's deaths was another.

"Yeah…" she said, timidly.

"Okay, so like," Cloud was just a bit drunk, "we all left, right? Wedge was takin' care of Jessie, and we just… we just left _Marlene_ in charge of the bar!"

Tifa had always kicked herself for that. What on earth was she thinking?

"I know!" she exclaimed, too drunk to really feel the guilt. "Who leaves a four-year-old in charge of a bar?"

"And she accepted it," Cloud said, ending his sentence with a burp. "She was back there slinging drinks as soon as you asked her to watch the place!"

"I know!" Tifa was laughing uncontrollably at this point.

She never had this conversation with anyone, and certainly never expected it to be in a lighthearted sort of way. Yet here she was with Cloud, laughing about the time they flagrantly and stupidly ignored child labor laws.

"Did the slums have any rules about children working?" Cloud asked.

"There are no rules in the slums, Cloud," Tifa said in a seductive tone, leaning back on her elbows and letting her chest rise a bit.

"We would be _such_ terrible parents," Cloud responded, getting on his hands and knees to crawl toward her.

"We'd be _terrible_," Tifa said, still in that low and sensual tone.

Cloud now had an arm on either side of Tifa's chest and was closing the gap between their lips.

"So terrible," he practically whispered before he kissed her.

They made love on the floor of the bar that night. Drunk, sloppy love.

_Present day…_

Tifa sighed at the memory. Marlene was surely better at "slinging drinks" now, she joked to herself. She left her bed once again and picked up a framed photo from her dresser. It was one of her most prized possessions, a photo from years ago of her, Cloud, Barret, Marlene, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Cloud clearly didn't want his picture taken ("This just seems like evidence, to me" he sulked at the time), Barret had Marlene propped up on his shoulder, and Tifa and the others had their arms around each other's' waists and were smiling.

She sighed. Everything seemed so possible back then. They were taking on the world without really considering the consequences. She ran her fingers over the image, closing her eyes tight and wishing that they would all be standing in front of her when she opened them. It never worked.

They were dead.

And Reno helped kill them.

She put the picture back down and choked back some tears. She needed to remind herself why she hated that flame-haired Turk, even if he didn't _seem_ like he was still the type of person to kill a large portion of a major city. Coeurls never changed their spots, after all.

She put on some clothes and cinched her raincoat tightly around her waist before grabbing an umbrella and heading to the orphanage. She couldn't give the children their usual lesson outdoors, but she wanted to see them, nonetheless. Working with the kids always lifted her spirits, as did Marle.

"You gonna tell me what's troubling you?" Marle asked after Tifa finished giving the children a modified lesson indoors.

Marle _always_ knew – and Tifa really thought she was hiding it this time. Marle apparently was better at hiding that she was on to Tifa than Tifa was at pretending nothing was on her mind.

"How do you always know?" the younger brunette asked, almost sternly.

Marle laughed and poured herself another cup of tea as the children played in the next room. Oates was gone, happily living with his new family as if they had been together all along.

Tifa hadn't planned on going to Marle's orphanage today, but after the events of last night she needed to get out of the house for a little bit.

"I kissed someone who wasn't Cloud," she said after a pause capped with an extended sigh to prepare.

"One of those Turks?" Marle asked in response, not seeming all that surprised.

"…yes." Tifa couldn't look Marle in the eye, so afraid of the older woman's judgment. But Marle was kind and supportive. Tifa knew deep down she was not being judged.

"Which one?" Marle asked.

She had seen the Turks before. They occasionally prowled Sector 7 over the years that AVALANCHE was active. She saw the bald one most, since he had dated a member of AVALANCHE before Tifa was brought into her care. She'd also seen one with bright red hair, long black hair, and a woman she couldn't recall.

"Reno…" Tifa sounded like a child admitting to making a mess.

"Is that the bald one?"

"No. That's Rude."

"I'm sorry?"

"His name is Rude."

"Oh," Marle chuckled. She never knew their names.

"Reno is his partner, the redhead."

"That scrawny bean pole?" The words escaped Marle's lips before she considered how they would sound. She never pictured someone as strong and fit as Tifa with a man that looked like a light breeze could blow him over. Then again, Cloud was pretty pathetic looking when Tifa first found him at the train station.

"You know him?"

"The first time I saw him was before Zangan brought you to me," Marle reminisced. "You don't forget hair like that."

"No, I guess you don't," Tifa chuckled.

"He came around looking for his partner, the bald one, who used to date a girl who worked with AVALANCHE before you came around. Part of the old guard."

"Rude used to date someone in AVALANCHE?"

"Her name was Chelsea. Broke her heart to hurt him."

Tifa pondered this new information. Rude never told her about Chelsea. Tifa knew the names of some of the old members of AVALANCHE from before Barret took over the Midgar cell, like Elfe and Fuhito, but she had never met them. She was too young to be a part of their wars.

"Interesting…" Tifa said, unsure if she should – or could – ask additional questions.

"So, tell me what happened with you and the Turk," Marle prodded. Tifa cursed herself, thinking she had been freed from further interrogation.

"I went on a date with Rude," Tifa began.

"Wait, wait, back up," Marle interrupted. "You _what?_"

"I… I agreed to go on a date with Rude," Tifa confessed. "He asked me out a while back and Reno convinced me to go out with him. I also thought I needed to try moving on from Cloud…"

"Reno? As in the redhead you kissed? He set you up with his friend?"

It all seemed so scandalous when Marle said it out loud. Tifa's cheeks turned red; she had never acted so selfishly before; it didn't suit her.

"Yes…" she finally admitted.

"Tifa, why haven't you told me all this before?"

"I didn't want to be one of those pathetic girls who only talks about her love life."

Marle leaned back and laughed before reaching across the table to cover Tifa's free hand with her own.

"I don't care what anyone may think, I want to know what's going on in your life – and right now this seems to be important."

"I guess I was embarrassed, too. I feel like I'm betraying Cloud."

"You told me what happened up north. I don't think any of this counts as betrayal after what he said."

"I… guess you're right."

"So, tell me about the date – and how you ended up kissing the other one."

Tifa propped her head on her fist and set down her cup of tea, taking a deep breath.

"I went out with Rude. It was nice. No sparks or anything. When I got home, Reno was waiting."

Marle nodded her head along as Tifa spoke but was unable to contain her questions.

"He said he just wanted to know how the date went, but it didn't make sense that he wouldn't just ask Rude. He got real close to me and we kind of… fell into the bar."

"And you kissed him?"

"No, I… started thinking about Cloud. I gave him a towel to dry off and before he left he kissed me."

"Well?" Marle asked.

"Well, what?"

"How did it feel?"

Tifa's cheeks again turned pink. "I… don't know," she said.

Marle gave her a knowing smile and nodded her head.

"I think it's good you're trying to move on," the older woman said.

Tifa left the orphanage more confused than ever. Marle seemed to be on board with this relationship and she didn't know why. Marle had lost everything in Sector 7, too, yet _she_ had seemingly gotten past Reno's deeds.

The brunette returned home and spent time getting the guest room ready for Barret and Marlene's visit, though it didn't need much work. No one had used it in nearly six months – since Cloud moved into it before he left – so all it really needed was some dusting.

She then moved downstairs to clean the bar. The wood floors had absorbed the water she and Reno had brought in with them last night, but she hadn't gotten a chance to clean up after she closed the bar early for her date with Rude. Closing early on a Saturday night definitely wasn't good for business, but Tifa didn't really need the money. She and Cloud had sold a few Magnify materias after Cid left them in Nibelheim in order to buy some property. They ended up using it for Marle's orphanage and to pay the people who helped build the bar and apartment in Edge with enough left over to live off of for the rest of their days if they wanted to. But Tifa couldn't just sit still the rest of her life. She wanted a home and a… family… but she also wanted something that was her own. The bar in the slums brought in decent business, and she believed she could do even better if she could design a bar herself in a good location.

And Seventh Heaven _was_ doing well. Better than she ever expected, although a good chunk of it was thanks to the Turks' expensive drinking habits and generous tips (well, Rude's generous tips).

She placed the chairs on top of the tables and polished the bar after running the dishwasher. She dusted and polished the liquor bottles and made sure they were all facing forward. She would go over everything again tomorrow before opening, but she felt a need to do it now as well.

Whenever she would take trash out to the dumpsters now, she would still be cautious, just in case Reno was hanging around. She definitely did _not_ want to see him today.

Once her chores were done, she curled up on the couch with a novel until it was time to go back to bed. This night, she spent quite a while untangling her hair before crawling into bed.

_Monday_

Tifa woke up in a better mood today. The sun was finally out and she was one day closer to seeing Barret and Marlene. She was already starting to think about what they could do that didn't require a lot of time outside walking since the streets were too dangerous and so many businesses had to close. Of course, battling monsters would be much easier with Barret around, but she didn't want to take the chance of Marlene getting hurt.

They wouldn't be able to stay cooped up inside all weekend, but there were a few places nearby – like the ice cream shop – that were still open and that they could get to relatively easy.

She hopped out of bed and performed her stretches before stepping into the shower and letting the warm water wake her up. She ran her fingers through her hair (as best she could) while washing, the way shampoo models did. She finally felt clean after this shower and wrapped a towel around her body as she stepped out onto her bathroom rug. She took a second towel and wrapped it around her head, with some hair hanging out the back due to its length. She strolled over to her mirror to see that she was looking much more like herself today. Her eyes were open and brighter and the dark circles under her eyes were gone.

She didn't even dread seeing Reno later when the bar would be open. She assumed he would be there with Rude to tease her and gloat. She just hoped Rude wouldn't find out about her little tryst – no, let's not call it a tryst – with Reno. It would hurt him no matter when it happened, but having it happen _right after_ their date had to be extra cruel.

How could she have done that?

She was trapped between feeling guilty and exhilarated. She hadn't thought that she missed a man's touch, but now that she had a taste, she couldn't believe it had been so long.

_But it was Reno!_

She got dressed and tidied up her home before traveling down to the bar.

Thump, thump, thump.

Tifa knew what that sound meant. She grabbed her gloves and headed out her front door to find some grashtrikes slithering through the streets, hitting buildings with their tails. Tifa kicked the one that had just been thumping against her bar, sending the creature flying into the air and down the street. Its screech grabbed the attention of the others, which turned toward Tifa and began advancing on her.

She psyched herself up and charted her path. She ran up to the closest creature and jumped up, bouncing off of its head to reach the next creature and doing the same. She continued this staggered "walk" over one more grashtrike before performing a somersault kick on the last remaining one – the queen. By the time she landed back on the ground, they were all dead.

She soon arrived at the orphanage to give the children a proper lesson. Some of the kids were really taking to martial arts. Tifa still hoped that Zangan was traveling the world and teaching and that, if he ever met the children, he'd be proud of her teaching skills.

Marle didn't ask any more questions about Reno, but Tifa caught her making wry smiles every now and again. It was just as embarrassing. She made a hasty getaway to avoid a longer conversation with the older woman in order to return to the theater to help put in some flooring before fighting her way back to her bar to prepare for opening.

The bar was already clean, but she had her opening ritual anyway: Mop the floors, polish the bar, dust and straighten the liquor bottles, re-rack any stray glasses, place the chairs, and clean the tabletops. In that order. Every night.

It was just about time to turn on the "Open" sign.

She smiled when Rude came in that night but couldn't help but be a little confused that Reno wasn't with him. She had prepared herself to act casual around the sharp-tongued Turk and ignore any barbs he might throw her way regarding Saturday night. She shook it off and smiled at Rude.

"Welcome back," she said as cheerfully as possible before placing his usual drink in front of him.

"Thanks," Rude replied.

So, that's how it was going to be. She actually took comfort in the fact that things had gone back to normal between them. She had worried the night would be weird, but Rude was his usual quiet self. Of course, Tifa didn't know what was going on in his head.

She assumed Reno was either waiting for her out back or trying to toy with her by making some grand entrance later. She was even prepared for him to bring another woman just to be a dick. But when she went to take out the trash he wasn't there. Elena and Tseng eventually joined Rude, but Reno never came.

After she closed up the bar, she sat down at a table to count her gil for the night. Rude had left a large tip, just like always, and Tseng drank more than usual, giving her a pretty nice profit for the day. She put some of the gil in her petty cash box and prepared the rest for the bank in the morning. It was her usual morning errand, finding that mid-morning was usually the quietest time for monster attacks. Even better, it was on the way to Marle's orphanage.

When she finished up, she climbed the stairs to her apartment above and gently fell onto her bed, closing her eyes and drifting peacefully to sleep.

_Tuesday_

Tifa woke up easily and went through her usual morning regimen: Stretch, shower, deal with hair, go to bank, give the children a lesson, run additional errands, help build the theater, return to the bar early to get ready for opening and deal with any monsters.

As she was returning home from the theater, a small herd of elfadunks could be heard wreaking havoc nearby. Tifa ran over and grabbed one by the horn, turning her back to it as she did so, and then hunched over and threw the creature up over her back and to the ground at her feet. She thought back to her fight with an elfadunk in the city several weeks earlier, when Reno had helped her out. It was the first time he showed any hint of humanity toward her. The memory also got her thinking about how he used his mag rod... on the monster, that day.

The beasts turned and ran in the opposite direction. Tifa would have chased after them, but she was blindsided by the creatures they were _actually_ running from: A pack of Kalm fangs. One lunged at her from behind, knocking her to the ground and clawing at her back. She screamed out in pain and twisted around so she could grab it by the chest. She placed a foot on its gut and pushed off to fling it behind her. It yelped as she got back to her feet. Two more jumped toward her, baring their teeth. She leapt into the air and kicked out to both sides, taking them both down. She expected more to attack, but instead their ears perked up in another direction and ran off. Tifa assumed the police were nearby.

Rude and Elena came to the bar shortly after it opened that night. Where was Reno? She knew he had to be playing some kind of game, it's what he was best at, but she was starting to wonder. Maybe he got enough from her Saturday night and was bored. Maybe it was all an act. Maybe she was a bad kisser… She started asking herself too many questions, and she soon found herself just wishing he would walk in the door and put her fears to rest.

Tseng joined them a little later, but again Reno didn't show. Tifa continued to act as if she didn't even notice he was gone, but inside she wanted to ask them about their red-headed partner, or at least overhear something about him.

After another long night, she closed up and counted her gil. She slowly walked up stairs and into her bathroom. She removed her shirt and bra and looked at herself in the mirror. What was wrong with her? Why did Cloud leave? And now Reno? Was she just not exciting enough or good enough?

She put on a nightie and fought back tears when she crawled into bed. She would _not_ cry over Reno. She may have cried after their encounter, but that had more to do with Cloud.

_Wednesday_

_"Same old, same old," _Tifa thought when her alarm went off. Still no texts from Reno. She was again getting tempted to send him a message, something simple like a "?" and leaving it at that, but she had more self-control than that.

She stepped out of bed and performed her morning stretches. She then undressed and slipped into the shower. She turned the temperature up and stood under the hot water, examining her body for imperfections. She flexed her muscles and considered the possibility that she was _too_ muscular. Did she look mannish? Was her hair too long? Her butt too big? Her boobs too saggy?

No, she couldn't start thinking about that. Even if her problem was physical, she didn't know what needed to be fixed. If the problem was her personality, well, there was little she could do to change that. And if that were the case, it was time for her to find someone who liked her for who she was.

She couldn't let these boys lower her self-esteem. Just because they didn't want her didn't mean _no one_ wanted her. And she still wasn't convinced that they had both completely rejected her.

She had already gone over her relationship with Cloud – all the times he told her he loved her, all the times they had sex, all the times they laughed, all the things they did together, and all the future plans they made.

Now she found herself going over her experiences with Reno. _He_ was pursuing _her_. He was the one that kept showing up out of nowhere and texting her. Maybe he was waiting for her to come to him? Maybe she hadn't given him enough to keep him wanting more? That couldn't be true, he saw her partially nude a few days ago, his face was gleaming. And their kiss, while sensual, definitely ended too soon – at least she thought.

She just couldn't understand why the redheaded bastard had gone dark.

Tifa turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her head. She grabbed her red satin mini-robe and put it on before approaching the mirror. Today would be the day she _stopped_ letting boys make her doubt herself. She finished getting ready and went about her day as usual: She went to the bank, taught the children, ran additional errands, helped build the theater, and then returned to the bar early to get ready for opening and dealing with any monsters that came by.

Another stampede of levrikons appeared before it was time to open. Tifa groaned and put on her gloves to run outside and start the fight. She dove shoulder-first into the first one she saw and they both tumbled to the ground. Tifa got to her feet first and crushed the bird's neck before swinging her other leg out to kick the next bird square in the chest, dropping it to the ground.

Another bird pecked at her arm as it passed, causing Tifa to wince as another creature knocked her to the ground. Angered, she began running in the opposite direction of the stampede, punching one bird, kicking the next and somersaulting back to the ground. She crouched low to the pavement to sweep another bird off its feet. The bird slowed to a near stop and started limping as it tried to escape, quickly falling behind the rest of the herd. Tifa picked the next bird up and slammed it down to the ground. The flock was thinning out now, and she needed to finish prepping, so she dodged a couple birds to cross the street back to her bar.

She had barely returned to the bar after flicking on the "open" sign when the landline started to ring. She answered the phone, silently praying it wasn't one of her vendors saying they would be late with a delivery.

"Hello Miss Lockhart," a familiar, grating voice said on the other end. "Just calling – again – to see if Mr. Strife—" Tifa hung up before he could finish.

Every week now. Every week, the same reporter from the Daily Buzz – which had been rebuilt after the fall of Midgar – would call and ask her for any updates on Cloud. At first, she asked him to stop calling her, but that resulted in negative stories that she was lashing out at her friends and family. They didn't even bother to call any of her friends. In hindsight, she was thankful for the shoddy journalism, since it kept the other members of AVALANCHE from knowing about Cloud's absence.

Now she just hung up on them. Reporters weren't hanging around the bar as much as they were shortly after Meteorfall and after Cloud left, so the stories about Tifa and her friends weren't as numerous, yet still this reporter called. And every time he did, she was reminded of how alone she was in the world.

Rude and Elena were later than usual. For a moment Tifa thought maybe all the Turks were on assignment and unable to come to her bar. That got her thinking that maybe Reno was on a special assignment and that was why he hadn't come into the bar all week. It was a little comforting, at least.

Tseng joined them again that night. Tifa overheard him scolding Elena about something, but she couldn't tell what about. Again, Reno never made an appearance. At this point, Tifa was pretty sure she had done something wrong and driven him away.

She ended up becoming pretty depressed about the whole thing by the time she closed the bar. As she worked to clean up, however, she started getting angry. Angry at Cloud. Angry at Reno. Especially Reno.

She would _not_ let some _murderer_ make her feel bad about herself. She would _not_ sit around sulking and waiting around for him – or Cloud.

Barret and Marlene were coming in a week. She just had to make it to then before she wouldn't be alone.

She wanted to see the stars. When she was traveling with AVALANCHE around the world, she was able to see the sky most nights while camping on the open road. And other than Junon and Rocket Town, the villages around the world weren't big enough or well-lit enough to block out the stars, so she'd be able to watch them while everyone else was sleeping.

The stars in Nibelheim were her favorite, even if they did bring back some painful memories. The good memories outweighed the bad, like promises made; promises kept. Even now, she felt comfort under the night sky, and so she climbed outside her bedroom window and stood up so that she was facing the building. A simple hop allowed her to grab onto the edge of the roof and pull herself up.

She didn't come up here regularly, only when her urge to see the stars became overwhelming. There was too much light pollution in Edge to see more than a few stars, and even they could only be seen if one concentrated on one place for a few seconds. Still, it's what she had, and the skies had cleared from the recent storms.

She sat with her back against the parapet and stretched her left leg in front of her, bringing her right knee under her chin. She found one star and concentrated on it for a few seconds as the musty brown night sky came into focus. She started to see a few dimmer stars around the one she first saw and sighed.

She couldn't will them to appear.

_Thursday_

Tifa woke up with more determination than she had all week. Barret and Marlene would be here in a week, and she was _done_ wondering what happened to Cloud or Reno. She hopped out of bed and gracefully performed her morning stretches.

Today she would be her old, strong self. She showered and combed her hair, trying to think about _anything_ other than those damn boys. She decided to wear her new – well, now not so new – outfit in order to feel good about herself. As she was rolling up her second thigh-high, her phone buzzed.

"See you next week!" followed by another text: "That was from Marlene."

Tifa smiled as she walked down the stairs into the bar. She picked up the envelope of gil from the night before (kept in a hidden safe in the back room) and headed out to the bank.

She had no other errands to run today, so she went to the orphanage right after, followed by the theater.

The walk home included a swarm of gorgers skittering toward her. Tifa had always hated fighting any type of insect-like creature. Their carapaces broke pretty easily under her blows and she always ended up covered in their guts. She didn't want to ruin her favorite outfit, so she tried to avoid as many as she could and only hit the ones that came after her. She managed to get back home with sludge just on one arm, on her skin. She considered herself lucky.

She strolled into her bar and practically danced through her preparations. She was determined to get her life back on track now, especially since she didn't want Barret to ask too many questions about her mood.

She flicked on the "open" sign and took her place behind the bar, smiling for what new possibilities awaited her now.


	18. Nice Dream

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 9/17/2020: Massive edits throughout. Character's injury adjusted for accuracy. New scenes added.**

Chapter 18:

Tifa was no stranger to bar fights. In fact, she had to break up several each week in her own establishment. The combination of alcohol, daily tensions, and heated conversation often resulted in two or more patrons engaging in violent behavior.

The brawls were much easier to deal with when Cloud was around. While Tifa could take out anyone threatening to fight in her business, all Cloud had to do was tap the tip of his sword on the floor in sight of the stewing customers and the disagreement would come to a halt. Just the threat of facing the Ultima Weapon would strike fear in the patrons, causing them to retreat, often with quick apologies.

Tifa's weapons, being her fists, weren't so easy to grab attention without an actual blow. Having dealt with multiple fights, however, her customers knew that if she started toward them with her fists raised, it was time to calm down. Occasionally the fight would be in the early stages, with the participants circling each other over toppled chairs. If the cheers from the witnesses weren't too loud, Tifa could stop the fight with the sound of creaking leather as she pulled on her gloves. She loved when that happened, but the circumstances had to be right.

Rarely, Tifa actually had to use brute force to stop a ruckus, though she tried to avoid that at all costs. Beating up paying customers shouldn't be good for business, but she had always received applause from those watching when she leveled someone who had gotten testy.

Then there was the fact that she was a famous martial artist. While she had needed to subdue customers before, none had ever attacked her. They came to her bar to drink and look at a beautiful, famous woman. They neither wanted to harm her beauty nor take her on in a fight. She had already proven to many now-bruised egos that she couldn't be taken down by anyone. She had fought Sephiroth himself. No construction worker or coal miner or even professional fighter could compare to that.

Because of the nature of the fights and their timing, she never really had to worry about weapons being used. Sure, sometimes a patron would smash a bottle and try to use the broken end against their opponent, but no one dared to bring weapons into her Edge bar.

Until tonight.

It started innocent enough, two customers who had been in before and appeared to be chums engrossed in a heated political discussion while drinking hard liquor. One of the patrons, a large, burly man who may have been even brawnier than Barret (without the gun arm, of course) seemed to be getting angry fast. The other man, a short, stout individual with thinning hair, was matching the larger man's energy.

Tifa couldn't help but overhear the argument once it reached the volume that caused other patrons to stop what they were doing and glare. The two were hashing out whether coal and oil were any better than Mako as an energy source. At some point, both sides seemed to forget what their original positions were and took to outright personal insults toward the other.

Once the larger man stood up from his chair, causing it to fall backward and the table between them to screech as it shifted several inches at his sudden movement, Tifa decided it was time to step in and stop the altercation before it went any further.

"Excuse me," she said as politely as possible while still imposing a sense of authority. The two men continued to stare angrily at each other without acknowledging her presence. "I think it's time you two left."

That sent the two men into a rage, the likes of which Tifa had not seen since she operated a bar in the Sector 7 slums. It was not uncommon for patrons at the old Seventh Heaven to draw weapons on each other. Heck, even Barret had unloaded his gun arm in fits of rage back then. Tifa couldn't count the number of days she spent trying to sand down and cover bullet holes in the walls.

The larger man started shouting obscenities and reached into the back of his waistband to pull out a Peacemaker, which he promptly pointed at his drinking buddy. The smaller man retaliated by pulling out his own firearm, a Quicksilver, and aimed it right back at his discussion partner.

Tifa took a step back from the two men. She slowly reached down into her pocket, keeping her movements low and steady to hopefully stay out of their peripheral vision. The men were locked onto each other, neither moving nor saying anything. The other customers had abandoned their tables and backed against the wall when the men first stood up. They were now frozen in place, some holding their hands up to beg for their lives.

The room was uncomfortably quiet. The other patrons didn't even appear to be breathing, so afraid of what may happen.

Tifa removed her Premium Heart gloves out of her pocket, sliding the weapon over the leather of her skirt and then stretching them down along with her arms to squeeze her right hand into one glove. She took extra time to pull the edge of the glove back over her wrist to secure it to her hand before taking the other one and doing the same with her left hand.

She then bent her elbows to begin raising her fists. Once her fists were in line with her waist, she raised her elbows so that her hands were in a defensive position in front of her face. She also placed her right foot back a step to allow better footing.

She had practically been moving in slow motion as everything around her was stopped, as if they were all in a movie scene.

"I said," Tifa finally broke the silence, "I think you should leave."

She bent her knees and readied herself for battle. Upon hearing her words, both men pointed their guns directly at her face. Then, realizing the other was unguarded, they turned their weapons on each other. They changed their targets multiple times, now unable to decide whether they should shoot each other or the bartender who had challenged them.

It was at that moment the door to the bar was opened, the familiar chime of the bells ringing overhead. Neither Tifa nor the men with guns had time to register that someone new had entered the establishment before they were surrounded, as if the people who had entered had teleported from the door to where the fight was about to begin.

Tifa blinked and saw Rude standing in front of her, on the other side of the men. He, too, had his fists up and staggered in front of his face, prepared to assist her in the fight. Also in Tifa's line of sight was Elena, who stood to Rude's right and had the end of her pistol just millimeters away from the smaller man's face.

Tifa instantly felt calmer seeing the Turks in front of her as backup.

"Move one inch and I'll send you to hell," Tifa heard a familiar, missed, and cocky voice from behind the larger of the two men.

She couldn't see him, but Reno had his mag rod pressed against the man's cervical vertebrae, right at the base of his skull.

What happened next truly did move in slow motion for those involved.

Tifa had one gun pointed at her face (the large man's). She used the slight apprehension he exhibited when Reno spoke to swat his gun away from her with the back of her right hand. He didn't drop it, but was now pointing toward the back area of the bar, away from any other patrons.

In the instant it took the man's face to contort into one of shock – his mouth opened, his eyebrows lifted, and his eyes widened – Tifa spun to her right, lifting that same leg behind her and bending her knee so that when she twisted back around her heel would connect with the large man's face. As her foot hit, the skin of the man's cheek rippled across the rest of his features, causing his lips and nose to gravitate to the left, almost to the point of ending up on the side of his face. A bicuspid dislodged from his mouth, twirling in the air like an asteroid floating through space as it passed underneath his front teeth, arching down toward the floor until it was lower than the countertop, lower than the seats of the stools, lower than the footrest of the stools, and finally hitting the floor with a clicking sound before bouncing twice more and landing again with a similar sound. Finally, it slid a few inches to its resting place near the front door.

The large man's eyes rolled back into his head as blood and sweat evacuated his head due to Tifa's blow, joining their toothy brethren on the floor near Reno's boot.

As the large man was reacting to what would cause him to black out and crumple to the floor (only to wake up later in the hospital with the worst headache of his life), the smaller man's lips formed a circle in order to say something. Perhaps the other man's name in a suddenly concerned kind of way.

In his surprise, the stout man stopped aiming his gun at the larger man and instead started shaking both his arms in a frightened and confused manner. He was still holding the gun, and it wavered back and forth through the air, sometimes pointing up, sometimes pointing down, and passing the middle of an arch in between.

Tifa's foot landed in perfect formation after she completed her full turn and dealt the large man a devastating kick. She landed gracefully, as if in a choreographed dance, as the large man's head was nearing the floor. His left hip hit the wood first, then his elbow, then his shoulder. He was lifted off the ground by his own momentum for mere centimeters before landing once again. This time, his head hit the floor as well, but his eyes were already closed, unconscious before Tifa's foot had even fully passed the width of his shoulders. When unconsciousness hit, his fingers went limp and his firearm fell from them, following a similar course as the tooth. The gun finally landed next to the large man's head, wobbling on its grip for a second before settling just as Tifa's foot planted on the floor nearby.

It all happened so fast that Reno barely had time to step back to avoid being brought down with the large man as well. All he managed to do in the time Tifa took the man out was to twist slightly, his mag rod still positioned as though he were about to attack someone. Rude's eyes were trained on the stout man as this all occurred, assessing the situation to see if this man decided to put his gun down instead of attack after seeing what had just happened to his friend. Elena still held her gun to the stout man's head but shifted her eyes and then the rest of her face to look to the left and watch the big man collapse.

Tifa's next charted attack was to disarm the stout man. She really hadn't needed the Turks to interfere, but they had been enough of a distraction to be helpful, so she was certainly grateful.

There are moments in time that latch onto a person's memory to be relived over and over again. Moments one reimagines in the hopes they can figure out what they could have done differently to change the situation and then spend an even greater amount of time punishing themselves for not taking a different course of action in the first place. Sometimes only one person experiencing an event comes away with such a moment engraved into their psyche. It can be due to one's feelings about the other people involved or even one's own view of oneself and how they should act in certain situations.

Reno was about to have one of those moments, and though it would embarrass him to the end of his days, it was created for both of the reasons listed above.

The stout man now had his free hand on his forehead and was obviously in crisis over his friend on the floor. As he brandished his own weapon about subconsciously, haphazardly around the room, he accidentally squeezed the trigger. It didn't even register to him at first, as the bullet corkscrewed through the air in the blink of an eye, heading toward – and then into – its unintended target. The gun had been angled somewhat down when the shot was fired.

Elena's gun fired in return, sending bitter jealousy through Reno _and_ Rude's spines as they wished they had been the ones to take the man down.

Reno had remained where he had been all along but was pointing his EMR at the stout man when the gun went off. Rude was lunging forward to grab the man when Elena's gun went off, causing an explosion of blood to fly back toward the Turks and the patrons who were still crouched down and trying to escape along the wall and out the front door. The fight had been over once the guns had been pulled out. Elena's face and torso were covered in blood. Rude did not escape the splatter but was still reaching toward the man and not in a position to stop.

The focus of the other two Turks gave Reno the opportunity to witness what would become one of those "moments." He was a few feet back from the stout man when his gun fired. At the edge of his vision, Reno saw where the bullet traveled. Even as everything moved slowly around him, he did not see the bullet specifically, but he saw its consequences.

Tifa's abdomen, a little to the left of her belly button and beneath her kidney, dimpled suddenly. Blood spurted out instantly, as if it had been waiting for a chance to escape. After the initial release, blood seeped out of the wound as Tifa started to move backward toward the ground by the force of the impact. Her knees were beginning to buckle when her right hand reached across her belly to inspect what initially felt like she was stabbed – or possibly _electrocuted_. She was moving backward, and as her hand made contact with her wound, her other hand reached out as she stumbled into the barstools at the counter, desperately trying to brace herself on the bar counter. She was only able to keep herself righted for a second or two before her knees finally buckled and she started sliding down to the floor. Her backside finally reached the floor; a couple of the stools moved slightly but did not fall. Tifa leaned back against the base of the bar, her left hand still outstretched on top of a stool after it had slipped off the counter. She could now feel something slick on her fingers and started to look down. The liquid pooling on her leather skirt would appear to be simply water reflecting the black of her skirt had it not been for the lights above showing its dark red tinge.

All at once, things sped back up to normal. Rude and Reno practically raced each other to get to Tifa's form as she fell to the ground. The other patrons successfully evacuated. Rude had to jump over the stout man's body to get to Tifa at the same time as Reno, one on each side of her. Elena re-holstered her gun and walked over to crouch in front of the brunette on the floor, blood still dripping from her hair and face.

Reno was tugging at Tifa's right arm to get her to lift her hand so he could see where the bullet entered. Rude was waiting for her to move her hand at Reno's coaxing so that _he_ could inspect the wound. Elena put a hand on one of Tifa's legs, which were stretched out in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked reflexively.

Tifa actually didn't seem that concerned with what was happening.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied, not completely sure why she was surrounded by Turks at the moment.

"Let me see," Rude said.

"Lie down," Elena commanded.

Tifa hesitated a moment and looked at each of them before begrudgingly obliging. Now Reno simply lifted her arm so that she would move her hand as he sat cross-legged on the floor to allow Tifa to use his knee as a pillow. Rude had the better view of her wound.

"It… didn't come out," Rude said, with just the faintest hint of concern. To those who knew him, he was downright despondent in his tone.

"Guys, it's nothing," Tifa insisted. "I'm fine. I _have_ been shot before." Her speech had started to slur when she added: "Including by _you._"

She kept her eyes locked on Reno's and lifted her right hand in an attempt to point at him. In her weakness, she misjudged the distance between her and his face and ended up poking him in the cheekbone, just barely missing jabbing a finger up his nose. He moved his head back awkwardly at her poke, squinting the eye nearest to her extended index finger, before her hand slowly fell along his skin, down his cheek to his jaw, then tracing a line down his neck, to his chest – causing him to shudder at the memory of being her adversary. Her strength finally gave out and her hand fell from his skin to rest on his other thigh, just above his knee.

His left eye twitched and he felt his heart flutter at her brief touch.

"Hey now, I never actually hit you like this," he countered, looking down at her head situated in his lap.

It was true, Reno may have shot _at_ her in Gongaga, but he made sure no bullets actually landed. She received some grazes, but never anything serious or near vital organs. Rude hadn't thought about it then, but Reno was a damn good shot, the fact that he never hit Tifa now made more sense in conjunction with all his other suspicions.

"I'm calling an ambulance," Elena suggested, looking over at Rude, who nodded. The blonde Turk pulled her PHS out of her pocket and flipped it open to call emergency services.

"No, come on," Tifa said, her focus on Elena. "Can't you just stitch me up like last time?"

Her head half turned, half fell under its own weight toward Reno as she pleaded. He couldn't help but smile at the notion that she would rather let him touch her now than go to the hospital. What difference a couple months and some flirting made.

"We could, but you may very well die," Rude said. "It'll be better if we just take you there now."

Tifa closed her eyes. This was not how she planned this day ending. She had woken up with the determination to move forward with her life and to move on from Cloud and Reno. Now Reno was sitting right next to her with a – was that a look of genuine concern? Nah.

And then she looked down at herself. Rude was pressing the wound to try to control the bleeding, so she couldn't really see it, just all the blood that had soaked her tank top and slicked over her skirt and down her leg. But she certainly now _felt_ it. She groaned. This was all just so inconvenient.

"Fine, let's get it over with," she said.

She tried to start lifting herself up off the floor, but the Turks wouldn't let her.

"Just stay still," Elena said, placing a hand on Tifa's shoulder. "The ambulance is on its way."

Tifa groaned again.

"Ack," she coughed. "I can get myself there."

"Yeah, okay tough guy," Reno teased. "You just chill here. You'll be back to kicking patrons and taking bullets in no time."

Breathing hurt. Tifa couldn't remember the last time she had been injured to that point. It wasn't like the bullet was anywhere near her heart or lungs, it's just that the skin around it stretched when she tried to breath. Her heart was beating kind of fast – for several reasons – and when she tried to concentrate on slowing it down, she ended up taking deeper breaths, which hurt the wound.

Aside from the pain, she was just plain embarrassed. She should have taken down the other man as soon as she finished with the larger man. She should have gotten out of the way of the gun. Now she was being treated like a child by the Turks. Because of this stupid, and, in her mind, non-life-threatening injury.

Before Reno was able to clearly tell what had happened, a thousand possibilities went through his head. When he first noticed Tifa was hit, he imagined her collapsing and never getting back up. He ran to her but kept himself from cradling her in his arms like someone in some tragic movie. She wasn't _that_ hurt – even if gunshot wounds hurt like a _motherfucker_ – so there really was no reason for him to get so worked up, or so he told himself.

Yeah, he wished he had stopped her from getting hurt, wished he had just electrocuted the big man instead of giving him a chance to give up. If he had, Tifa could have focused on the stout man and avoided injury. He wished he had taken the bullet for her.

Wait, _what_?

Why was he thinking about all these things? Okay, if she died, he wouldn't be able to fuck her, and that would be a _huge_ bummer for him, but that wasn't the only reason for his concern, was it?

Thankfully the ambulance arrived to take his attention – oh, and Tifa. She tried to keep the paramedics from putting her on a stretcher, insisting she just needed to "walk it off," but they insisted. She tried to tell them to just help her stand up and then she could sit on one of the benches in the ambulance. No dice. The paramedics also wouldn't patch her up and let her get herself to the hospital.

Finally, she relented and looked positively _bothered_ to be forced to ride in the ambulance on the stretcher. She tried to cross her arms to pout, but she couldn't even do that as the paramedics were tending to her wound.

"You'll come, right?" she asked in a hazy fog. "I… can't see the stars."

Her question didn't seem directed toward anyone in particular, as she wasn't looking at any single Turk when she said it. Elena wasn't even sure if Tifa had meant to say that.

"Sure, we'll see you soon," Elena said in a comforting voice.

Whether Tifa really wanted them there or not, Elena's motherly instincts had taken control. No, she didn't care for Tifa too much, but when she saw someone injured – and it wasn't someone she was killing – she instantly went into "care" mode.

The Turks watched the ambulance drive down the road and locked up the bar before heading back to Rude's home to get his car. He coincidentally – seriously! – lived the closest to Seventh Heaven.

The hospital in Edge was pretty nice, considering how young the city was. It had actually been one of the first structures built, for obvious reasons. Thousands were injured during Meteorfall, and Junon's temporary hospital couldn't accommodate everyone. Reeve directed aid crews to immediately start work on a building near the medical tents to serve as the hospital. Over the next few months, it was expanded and remodeled to upgrade the portion that was built hastily in the beginning.

The Turks sat in the emergency room waiting for news. None of them really wanted to be there. Not because of anything related to Tifa, but because it was _so_ damn boring and ordinary to be waiting. Plus, they weren't her family, so the medical staff wasn't that accommodating and wouldn't provide much information. After several hours, a doctor came out and addressed them.

"You're all here for Tifa Lockhart?" he asked. The Turks nodded. "And none of you are her family or spouse?" They shook their heads. "Well, there's not much I can tell you since you're not her emergency contact. Do any of you know how to locate Cloud Strife? The number she provided is no longer in service."

Reno clenched his teeth as his nostrils flared. That _bastard_. He was already an asshole for running out on Tifa, but now she was injured and _he_ was her emergency contact. Reno realized he was clenching his fists, imagining himself punching Strife in the face.

"We don't know where Cloud is," Elena said. The doctor looked unfazed.

"Are you friends of hers?" he asked.

"Yes…" Elena said, a little unsteadily.

"You won't be able to see her tonight, I'm afraid," the doctor said. "We just finished her initial surgery, but she's going to need at least one more to repair the damage to her organs. The bullet did some damage, but we were able to remove it."

The Turks' eyes widened in unison. It was rare that bullets were actually able to be removed. Reno and Rude each subconsciously raised a hand to cover a scar where a bullet was still lodged in their muscles – Reno, his right shoulder; Rude, his left leg.

"Will she be alright?" Rude asked in a compassionless tone that startled the doctor.

"We're hopeful, but we don't know at this point. If you could leave contact information with the front desk, we'll be sure to call you with updates." The Turks nodded and the doctor turned around to leave through a pair of double doors leading to the operating rooms.

Elena blew air out of her mouth in surprise. Reno laced his fingers behind his head and Rude crossed his arms over his chest, all three looking at the floor.

"Damn," Reno said.

Tifa had seemed so _annoyed_ by the injury, he didn't think she was in that much danger, even though he knew how critical gunshot wounds were – especially when they were near internal organs. But the fact that Tifa Lockhart could _die_ from a stupid bar fight? It was inconceivable.

"I... I can't believe it was that bad," Elena said.

"Yeah…" Reno added, scratching the back of his head. "Guess there's nothing more we can do here, huh?"

At that moment, he felt his PHS vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to check.

"1 text message from Shotgun."

"Delivered! Let me know when you want to meet up again ;)" it said.

He closed his phone without responding. A few months ago, he would have smiled to himself and considered her offer. He wasn't above sleeping with a woman a second time, even if he hadn't done it, but it was pretty clear why she sent the text. No challenge, no thank you. But things were different now, though he wasn't entirely sure why.

"I guess not…" Elena said. She looked to Rude, who simply nodded.

"Excuse me, you were the three here for Tifa Lockhart, right?" a nurse beckoned from behind a counter nearby.

"Yes," Elena answered as the three took a couple steps toward the nurse's station.

"Does she have any other family in town we could contact?"

"She doesn't have any family," Elena said. _Because of Shinra_.

"Oh, hmm. Whose number should I put down?" the nurse asked.

Elena looked back at her coworkers. Reno turned to look at Rude as the bald man snapped his eyes back toward the redhead, each trying to figure out why the other was looking at them. Elena rolled her eyes and faced the nurse again.

"I'll give you _my_ number," she said before writing it down on the form handed to her by the nurse.

The first update didn't come until the following morning. The three were lounging at their desks lazily passing the time before going on patrol when Elena's phone rang. Tifa was out of her second surgery and a third didn't seem necessary at the time. She was awake and mildly irritated.

The doctor, oddly (to Elena) asked if she knew any of Tifa's medical history and informed the Turk that she could visit the bartender until 9 p.m.

"Wanna go now? Before patrol?" Elena asked her two male colleagues, already knowing the answer.

"Extend your patrol to include your trip to the hospital," Tseng ordered from his office.

When Reno looked over to the boss, he could see the raven-haired man hadn't even looked up from whatever he was working on.

It took some time to get properly directed to the Intensive Care Unit where Tifa was still being kept, but the Turks finally found the correct waiting area. Lefts and rights and sets of double doors all led them to a small, windowless area with about two dozen uncomfortable chairs and a decent view of the afternoon slowdown. Nurses and doctors occasionally walked past the area, avoiding eye contact, as they went about their days. It didn't seem like patients were being moved into or out of the unit, and even though the Turks were trained to listen to the murmurs of strangers to glean information, they heard nothing regarding Tifa. The guy in room 12 was probably a goner, though.

They must have waited more than an hour before someone in scrubs finally came to get them and lead them to Tifa's room. The room itself was on the large side, with a private bathroom and long window on one side. A long bench sat beneath the window for guests and there was a large glass wall facing Tifa's bed where doctors and nurses wrote extensive notes regarding her care, including medications and when she needed to receive them.

Reno was no stranger to hospitals, and approached the wall to study Tifa's immediate medical history. He had glanced at Tifa as he entered, but the sight of her with all the medical equipment keeping her alive drove a knife through his heart and triggered something he hadn't thought about in far too long. Though he didn't show it, he tensed up and turned to the wall to catch his breath and calm down, memories of the past suddenly too intense.

He'd lost far too many important people in his life, and nearly lost Tseng, to be able to handle seeing anyone else he cared about in a hospital like this.

He recognized some of the medical jargon that detailed her surgeries and the change in her vitals since the previous night. Elena and Rude each stood on one side of her bed, furrowing their brows at the number of machines hooked up to the bartender.

Tifa perked up when they entered, but her eyes lingered on Reno for a second too long, leading her expression to wan, her eyes shifting to look down.

"How are you feeling?" Elena spoke first.

Tifa had a mask that helped her breathe, but she was able to lift it to speak in short sentences.

"I. Want to. Go. Home," she said in short, exasperated breaths.

"Sorry, you're not out of the woods yet," Elena said, her tone soft. "I think you'll be stuck here a few more days."

"Aren't you Turks?" Tifa asked in one excruciating breath. "Can't you sneak me out?"

Rude crossed his arms and let out a little chuckle. Tifa looked up at him with pleading eyes. Was he the weakest link? Questionable. He liked her, but that might actually work against her as he might want to make absolute sure she was okay. Elena always struck Tifa as a by-the-book kind of woman, and probably wouldn't be open to flouting hospital recommendations.

And then there was Reno, who still had his back to her while studying the wall. He was definitely a rule breaker, but where had he been the past week? He might decline to help her just to be an ass. He was a loose cannon. He was her best chance.

"You need to stay here," Rude suggested. "You're barely alive as it is."

Tifa huffed.

"The bar," she said, though she knew it wouldn't be convincing.

"What about it? We locked it before we left," Elena replied.

Tifa was hoping they hadn't so she could make the argument about urgency.

"I don't. Want. To be in here," she pouted. One of the monitors indicated her respiratory rate had increased.

"Then you shouldn't have gotten shot, yo," Reno offered, turning with enough courage to stand at the foot of her bed. The words stung him as soon as they left his lips.

Tifa, Elena, and Rude all shot him a glare and his expression retreated.

Tifa didn't think she felt any pain – it was thanks to the morphine, but still. She wanted to go home. She didn't have time to be sitting in a hospital with such a wimpy wound – at least in her eyes.

Barret and Marlene were coming next week. She needed to clean up the bar. She needed to do any number of things that would be put off while waiting to get out of this place. She felt lonely home alone, she felt even lonelier here even though she would be surrounded by strangers.

"Is there anything _else_ you'd like us to do for you?" Elena asked.

Tifa shook her head.

"I'm tired" she said, defeated and losing awareness.

"Okay, we'll come back later, if you want," Elena offered.

"Sure."

"And if they take too long to release you, we'll kick their asses," Reno said confidently, jabbing his thumb into his chest.

Tifa smiled weakly. It quickly faded as she watched Rude and Elena leave. Elena lingered in the doorway and turned back just in time to catch Reno standing next to Tifa and removing two fingers from her forehead. The bartender's expression was unreadable as Elena tried to figure out what had just happened. Reno didn't say a word as he passed his colleague out the door.

The crushing loneliness set in once Tifa found herself alone in the sterile gray room in an unfamiliar place. She wanted to lay on her side and curl up like she did when she wanted to pretend to shut out the world, but moving made her side ache, even with the pain medication she was on. At least she was exhausted enough to fall asleep in the position she was currently lying.

_Later…_

Tifa was woken up by a nurse to have her bandages changed, unaware of how much time had passed since the Turks left. She was luckily in a private room, since she was wearing just panties under her hospital gown, which needed to be lifted for the nurse to gain access to the wound. Tifa found the whole ordeal profoundly uncomfortable. She was used to dressing her own wounds, or having Aerith, Jessie, or Yuffie do it. She didn't like letting strangers touch her. She still wished she had never let Reno stitch her up months ago. She never would have even entertained the thought of kissing him – and she wouldn't be having so many competing, not to mention _annoying_, feelings trapped in her head.

She looked outside at the sunset as the nurse worked, not wanting to see how bad the wound still was so she could maintain some ignorance. Maybe she could convince the Turks to break her out.

"Can I go home now?" she asked the nurse, still needing the mask to breathe comfortably.

"You're gonna be here a few more days," the nurse said. "The bullet did quite a bit of damage."

The nurse finished dressing the wound and readjusting Tifa's gown. She was just leaving the room when the three Turks returned. Tifa didn't want to admit it, but she was really glad to see them.

"Feeling any better now?" Elena asked as she walked to the foot of Tifa's hospital bed.

"Much," Tifa lied, her breathing difficulty showing the Turks the truth.

"Have you seen it?" Reno asked.

"The wound? Just saw. Not serious," she said between staggered breaths.

"You were shot," Rude said. He didn't say it in an informative or snippy way, it was more like he really thought she wasn't taking this seriously. There was a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yes, and I'd like to go home now, please," it was the longest sentence Tifa had been able to put together since she was out of surgery. Reno snorted.

"She says from behind her breathing tube," the redhead added sarcastically.

The Turks stayed and chatted with Tifa a while longer, continuing to dismiss her requests to leave the hospital while still hooked up to so much machinery.

As they were leaving, Elena again turned to see Reno pulling his hand back from Tifa. He was further along in the act than the last time she caught him, but she knew that whatever he was doing would confirm all her suspicions. She made a mental note to turn back quicker next time.

_Saturday_

Reno arrived at the hospital as soon as visiting hours began, thinking his colleagues would never expect him to wake up so early. He was allowed back to Tifa's room just a few minutes later and was shocked to find an elderly woman already sitting beside the brunette's bed. He jumped back out of the doorway and pressed himself against the wall, hoping he hadn't been seen.

As he stood with his back to the outside wall, he tried to place that old woman. She looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place her. Did Tifa have a grandmother? No, she didn't have any living relatives that he could recall, but it had been a few years since he'd last checked her file at Shinra.

If he recalled correctly, Tifa was a ward of an elderly woman when she first came to the slums after the Nibelheim incident, and this could be that woman – but Reno could swear he had seen her more recently.

Before he could figure it out, the old woman left Tifa's room and passed him in the hall with a sly grin that appeared as she neared.

"You go on in, I'll come back later," she said quietly as she passed Reno. She didn't even look at him as she spoke.

Reno took the opportunity to slip into the room, now noticing that Tifa was no longer wearing the mask to help her breathe. She looked better than she had the past couple days, but she was still pale and weak. Her hair was oily and her eyes were sunken and dull, though they flickered with something as he strolled across the room to take the chair vacated by Marle.

"You're here early," Tifa pointed out.

"Yeah, well, the bar we had to go to in your absence doesn't have the right scotch," Reno said without faltering.

"You here to break me out?"

"I would if I thought you could handle it, Lockhart."

Tifa said nothing and an awkward silence fell over the room. Apparently, Reno was not the one who could get her out of here.

Reno fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably, thinking of something to say. Why had he even come here? He should have just waited until Rude and Elena suggested a visit instead of coming on his own. He hated hospitals, he hated seeing people in hospitals, but the thought of never being alone with Tifa again had been scratching at the deepest recesses of his mind.

"No more mask?" he asked after several moments had passed. Tifa instinctively reached up to touch her face where the breathing apparatus had been.

"They removed it this morning. I think it was holding me back, honestly."

"Oh yeah, you know how doctors are, always trying to hold you back from getting better," Reno teased, the corners of his lip twitching upward. Tifa gave him a knowing glance with a warm half-smile.

"They said I still have to stay here a few more days, but I'm feeling much better," Tifa said after another pause.

"Tell ya what, if you can hop outta bed without any pain and without tearing anything, I'll take you out of here right now," Reno offered.

Tifa considered attempting his offer on a prayer but knew she would fail.

"You don't even have to hop; you can just get up normally."

Tifa continued to stare blankly at him.

"Can you even sit up without pain?"

Tifa shifted slightly and moved to sit up, but pain shot through her abdomen as soon as she made the attempt. She fell back onto her pillow, wincing.

"Shit, Lockhart, that wasn't a challenge. Pull anything?"

"No, it just hurts."

"Looks like you're stuck here, then."

Another silence. Tifa sighed before a smirk spread across her lips.

"You didn't just come here to get me to tear my stitches, did you?" she asked, tilting her head on the pillow in his direction.

"So, what if I did?" he retorted with a smug grin. "Who was that woman in here before?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Reno shook his head. "You gave her a child a couple years ago."

"I… what?" the redhead asked, his voice tinged with fear.

"Yeah, during Meteorfall," Tifa said, snickering at the discovery of what would actually make Reno nervous.

"But I didn't sl—" it finally hit him; where he had seen that woman. He had given her the small child he had found during the calamity. "Oh."

"After you did that, she started finding more children and opened an orphanage," Tifa explained. "She's actually rather grateful for what you did, since it gave her a new purpose."

"To be honest," Reno said, looking away from Tifa and scratching the back of his head, "I was just lookin' to pawn the kid off on someone."

"Oh, she's well aware of that, but it worked out anyway," Tifa informed him with a warm smile. "So, back to the reason why you came here so early on a Saturday by yourself…"

Damn, his subject change hadn't worked on her, she was too smart for his tricks. The truth was he hadn't come up with an explanation for why he set an absurdly loud alarm to force him out of bed at the crack of dawn to get to the hospital without Rude or Elena finding out.

"I don't really know, guess I just know what it's like to be stuck inna hospital away from everyone you know," he said, scratching his head again.

"It's really boring. There's nothing to do."

"Can I getcha anything?"

"Seriously?"

"Sure. I recommend puzzles. I used to do crosswords and sudoku when I was laid up with no possible escape," Reno said, proudly.

"_You_ did crossword puzzles?"

"Your low opinion of me never ceases to amaze, Lockhart."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said. "It's just… I've always been really bad at crossword puzzles, so I'm always impressed when someone says they can do them."

"Just need some practice," Reno responded while tapping the side of his head with an index finger. "I'll pick you up a book since you'll have time. Anything else?"

Tifa wanted to ask for a hot shower, but knowing Reno, she decided against it.

"Well… some books would be nice."

"Any particular kind?" Reno suddenly looked shocked. "Don't tell me you like trashy romance novels, Lockhart?"

"They're not trashy!" she insisted before covering her mouth and blushing.

"Big mistake, Lockhart," Reno said smugly. "You're getting a big stack of the filthiest, nastiest girlie novels Gaia has to offer."

Tifa returned his smug look. "You realize you'd have to buy these supposedly dirty novels, right?"

Reno dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "No problem, I'll just balance them out with some nudey mags. Really throw the clerk for a loop."

Tifa started to laugh but immediately winced and clutched her injury.

"You sure you didn't come here to rip my stitches?" she asked.

Reno opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by his PHS ringing. He held up an index finger toward Tifa and checked his caller ID.

"It's Elena, give me a sec," he told her before bringing the phone to his ear. "Yeah?" he said, pretending to sound as if he had just woken up. "Now? I guess… I'll meet you there." He snapped his PHS closed and looked back toward Tifa, who had regained her composure from the pain in her side. "She asked if I wanted to come with her and Rude to see you," Reno told her. "I gotta duck out so they don't know I was already here."

"Why didn't you just wait to come with them?" Tifa asked, her face contorted into a confused expression.

"Keep asking myself the same question," he answered, scratching the back of his head.

He looked at her a moment, debating whether to continue with his traditional hospital goodbye but decided he had embarrassed himself enough for one day and turned to stroll out of the room with a lazy salute instead. "See ya in a few," he said before disappearing out of the room completely.

About 45 minutes later, the redhead returned, trudging behind Rude and Elena and seemingly more tired than he had been when he was alone with Tifa.

"The mask is gone! You must be feeling better," Elena asked once she saw the bedridden young woman.

"I am, but they still won't let me leave," Tifa sulked, attempting to cross her arms over her chest but flinching when even that slight movement caused her some pain.

"They'll let you out when you're capable," Rude said flatly.

The visit continued as the previous ones had. When it was time to leave, Elena turned quickly in an attempt to catch whatever it was Reno was doing when he thought no one else was looking, but instead of seeing him standing beside Tifa, she crashed right into his sturdy chest.

"Forget something?" Reno asked in a mocking tone. Elena's cheeks flushed and she turned back around to quickly leave the room, huffing out a "no," as she did so.

True to his word, unfortunately, Reno did return the next day unaccompanied but with a stack of maybe seven romance novels, which he left at the nurse's station with an embarrassingly loud announcement that Tifa could hear from her room. She closed her eyes tight and waited to scold him for his transgression, but he didn't enter her room.

A few minutes later a very confused-looking nurse carried the books into Tifa's room and set them on the bedside table.

"Did you order a bunch of 'dirty' novels?" the nurse asked, quoting one of Reno's less colorful descriptions.

Tifa turned red and rolled her eyes as the nurse removed herself from the pile of books. The stack fell as she placed it on the flat surface and she bent down to pick up those that landed on the floor. She replaced them to the table and gave Tifa some kind of look – somewhere between embarrassment and sympathy – before leaving the room to check on other patients.

The martial artist rotated her head to look at the pile and noticed a thinner book within the stack. She reached for it, carefully tugging it free and bringing it to her. It was a book of crossword puzzles. She smiled and placed it back on the table, making a mental note to ask for a pencil when the nurse came back.

It wasn't until later that day that Elena finally caught Reno in the act. The three Turks had again visited Tifa in the afternoon, and Elena had again turned to watch Reno as they were leaving. This time, instead of bumping into him, she caught him standing at Tifa's side looking down at into her eyes as she became weary. He brought his index and middle fingers to his lips, kissed them, and pressed them to her forehead.

Elena quickly left the room before giving Reno a chance to find out he had been caught.

The rest of the week dragged on as Tifa imagined it would. She felt better each day but still slept a lot, mostly to pass the time. She managed to make progress on several of the crossword puzzles that Reno had left her but couldn't shake the habit of checking her answers in the back as she went along. She soon gave up and relegated herself to reading the novels the Turk had brought. They were indeed filthy, far too raunchy for her taste, but it was either that or continue to frustrate herself over the crosswords, so she chose the former.

The Turks visited every day – well, most of them did. Sometimes Elena wasn't there in the evenings. Rude would say she had a prior engagement and Reno would make some crude comment about where Elena might be – and whom she might be with. Even Tseng visited once, to Tifa's surprise; a further show of bygones and appeasement.

"Rufus sends his regards," Tseng had said, leaving the barmaid wide-eyed and wondering if her hearing had become damaged.

Finally, the day came for Tifa to be released – just one day before Barret and Marlene were set to arrive. Marle tried to be the one to help get Tifa home, but the bartender insisted the children were more important, which left the Turks to accompany her home. Marle had taken care of Tifa before – for years – and she didn't want to feel like an injured 15-year-old again. Not that the Turks were her first or second choice, but her options were limited and Elena was persistent, claiming she wanted to make amends for failing to keep Tifa from getting shot.

The three Turks were currently sitting in the waiting room of the hospital wing where Tifa had been moved out of the ICU. Reno was leaning back deeply into the small arm chair, his legs stretched far out into the central walkway of the area and his shoulders nearly touching the seat cushion. Someone at the hospital had told Elena that Tifa was ready to be discharged, but they had already been waiting an hour at this point. Rude sat with his arms folded across his chest and his head tilted down in quiet contemplation. Elena was playing on her phone.

"You can come back now," a nurse said as he approached the three Turks and motioned for them to follow him back to Tifa's room. The glass board in this room had already been wiped clean, as if the whole ordeal had never happened, something for which the brunette was thankful. All of her IVs and monitors had been detached and she was sitting on the edge of the bed fully dressed in an outfit Marle had brought from Seventh Heaven, her legs dangling just an inch or so off the floor. Finding her something to wear out of the hospital was not a task she wanted to leave up to the Turks, even Elena, as she knew the blonde wouldn't be able to keep Reno out of her home.

A doctor was standing next to her with a chart and some paperwork for her to sign.

"I just want to go over that list of instructions to care for your wound one more time so that they are aware in case you need help."

He then rattled off a list of what she needed to do. No strenuous exercise (Tifa swore she heard Reno snort). Change bandages regularly. Etc., etc. Tifa knew the drill. She nodded along politely, antsy to leave.

"Okay, that's it, good luck," the doctor said before getting up and leaving.

Tifa was a little stiff as she set her feet firmly on the ground. Reno was reminded of how Tseng looked when he and Rude evacuated him from the hospital during Meteorfall. Just as they did then, the two male Turks stood on either side of Tifa to help her balance as she stumbled.

"I can do this," she insisted, trying to remove herself from the two Turks.

Reno and Rude looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't like they were afraid the hospital would collapse as they had been with Tseng, and they weren't itching to get back to their patrol either. They let Tifa hobble on her own, reaching out anytime she staggered and looked as though she might fall.

Rude helped her into the backseat of Elena's car. Reno took the front passenger's seat. There wasn't anything he could do publicly to continue his plan to cozy up to her, so he opted for looking disinterested. He watched in the rear-view mirror as Tifa leaned against Rude in the back seat. He felt just the slightest heat in his chest when she again leaned on Rude as she walked from the car and into her bar.

He ran up the stairs ahead of Rude and offered cliched words of encouragement to her, moving his hands to motion her forward, like she was a child taking her first steps. Tifa did not appreciate it.

The effort had made her tired along with the restless nights spent in the hospital and the whole ordeal in general, so the Turks helped her into her bedroom.

Reno looked around as he assisted her. It was the first time he was seeing her home in the daylight, but he couldn't exactly enjoy it (he'd prefer to be ravishing her instead of studying her furniture). He was in her territory, nonetheless.

Reno was behind Tifa and Rude in the hallway when he heard Tifa gasp.

"What?" she said in hushed surprise.

Reno smiled to himself, knowing she had just seen the vase with beautiful white flowers sitting on her nightstand. When Shotgun texted him the night Tifa was shot that she had delivered the flowers, Reno had to make a decision: Either let the flowers rot wherever Shotgun stashed them or break into Tifa's house and put them in water. He chose the latter, opting to spend as little time inside the home as possible. He wanted to be called upstairs by Tifa, but not like this.

The gift both delighted and frightened her. Someone had clearly broken into her home to leave the flowers, something she just now considered.

Elena was on the same page and readied her gun. She then inspected the other rooms in the hall in case the intruder was still inside. There was no one. No windows opened and nothing else disturbed.

Reno let a self-satisfied grin cross his features.

Rude helped Tifa sit on her bed. She kept her eyes on the flowers the entire time, studying the shape and size of the petals. They were rare flowers that could only be found around Mt. Nibel. They were her absolute favorite.

No card or tag. Nothing to indicate who they were from.

Her heart skipped a beat. Cloud definitely knew these were her favorite flowers. Her hope faded as she quickly realized surprises like this weren't Cloud's style. He would have been there to deliver the flowers, or he would have left evidence of his visit. He was an excellent fighter, but stealth wasn't his forte.

Stealth.

Tifa took a sniff of the flowers and glanced over at Reno. He looked exactly as he did that night outside her bar in the rain, when he wasn't reacting to her quip about him waiting in the rain for her. He was _really_ good at acting like he didn't care. But Tifa now knew that was his reflex response when faced with anything that could be emotional.

It had to be him, but how did he know? And how did he get them? She hadn't told him she liked these flowers – but he did know she was from Nibelheim. But so did a lot of other people!

She was too tired for this right now. She slowly scooted back on her bed up toward her headboard so she could lie down properly.

She wasn't even able to say goodbye to the Turks before she passed out.

Barret and Marlene would be here tomorrow.

Elena did her own inspection of the flowers to look for a note or anything to explain how they got into Tifa's room. Seeing no evidence pointing to a culprit, she encouraged Reno and Rude to leave with her.

Rude had this sinking suspicion now. He didn't see Cloud as the "anonymous flowers" type of guy, and he could only think of one other person who would be so underhanded. He didn't want to confront Reno, as it was clear his best friend couldn't have physically delivered the flowers himself. Well, he may have, but that would require him to take one of the Shinra helicopters late at night, make the trip, pick the flowers, and be home by morning. Something told him Reno couldn't have done this. The man loved to sleep and hadn't missed work – he was always late, but no later than usual. It just didn't make sense.

Yet still, Rude strongly suspected Reno had something to do with it – and he didn't like it.


	19. Reno Takes A Leap

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 10/6/20: Edits throughout. Scene between Tifa and Reno changed to accommodate Reno's less vulgar character. Flashback dialogue from FF7: Remake.**

Chapter 19:

It wasn't a knock that woke Tifa up after she had fallen asleep when the Turks brought her home. It was more like a _pounding_ on the door to her bar, loud enough for her to hear upstairs, that did the trick. At first, she thought a monster may have been ramming the front door, but it was too rhythmic for that to be the case.

Tifa realized there was only one possibility: Barret Wallace. He was the only one whose hand could knock on a door and make it sound like he was trying to break it down even though he wasn't. The "knock" did not seem angry or irritated, rather, it sounded like his normal knock. He really didn't know his own strength sometimes.

There was no light coming through Tifa's bedroom windows; she must have slept straight through the night and most of the day. She looked down and realized she was still wearing what she had worn home from the hospital. She clutched her side as the pain reminded her of what had happened.

She let her head roll to the left on her pillow and saw a vase with beautiful white flowers in it on the nightstand. Oh, that's right, there had been flowers waiting for her when she returned home from the hospital, and she strongly suspected Reno was behind them.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Actually, the Turks had been her saviors the previous week, loathe as she was to admit that. They had rushed to her aid when the men were in a standoff and then ensured she was taken to a hospital even after she protested. And yesterday they picked her up and brought her home. How things had changed…

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Alright! Tifa tried to get up but recoiled immediately, the gunshot wound still an ever-present reminder that she had let her guard down for one second too long. There was no way she could hurry to the door to let in Barret and Marlene. She reached for her PHS on the nightstand – careful not to stretch her stitches – which sat beneath the flowers and sent a text to Barret: "Be down in a few."

She eased herself up and slowly swung her legs over the side of her bed. Every movement hurt the wound in her abdomen. At least the Turks removed her shoes for her. Everything else seemed to be in proper position – Reno must have behaved himself around his comrades.

Actually, it was Elena who had surprised Tifa the most. The blonde-haired woman had never seemed that fond of the brunette bartender, so it was shocking at how concerned she seemed when Tifa was shot. Tifa figured she and Elena were more alike than she previously considered. Elena was the only girl in the group of Turks _Tifa_ knew, and must have to play mother quite often, given Reno's antics (the annoying little brother of the group) and Rude's indifference (some kind of stoic uncle). Tifa didn't know Tseng all that well, but he seemed to be more like Rude than the other two (the reluctant and stern father figure). That would leave Elena to be the mother of the group.

Tifa knew the blonde liked Tseng – _everyone_ knew that – and Tifa could now see the similarities between Cloud and the leader of the Turks. Both quiet and contemplative in a way that suggested deep down they could be really quite playful. Tifa found herself hoping Elena would eventually be able to confess her feelings to Tseng and that they would end up together – more for her own dreams of being with Cloud than for any real connection with Elena.

Standing up was incredibly painful. Tifa nearly fell forward from the pain that shot through her abdomen and splintered out to the rest of her torso. She didn't remember it hurting this much last night, but maybe the adrenaline and her steadfast desire to get out of the hospital had helped. Or maybe it was because she suspected Reno was the one who brought her the flowers…

There she goes again, seamlessly switching her thoughts from Cloud to Reno as if they held the same special place in her heart.

She managed to stabilize herself and start walking toward her bedroom door. She placed a hand on the door frame to support herself as she mentally prepared for the trip down the stairs. Now that she was facing it alone, she really missed the Turks. Reno's taunting her like a child or a puppy may have been vexing at the time, but now she missed his attempts to lighten the mood as Rude physically helped her. She put a hand on the rail and took a deep breath.

"Ow…!" she yelped, again clutching her wound. Okay, no more deep breaths for confidence.

She took her first step down the stairs. Pain. She took another. Pain. But she had to keep going. She couldn't ignore Barret and Marlene and it would hurt just as much to turn back now. She sucked it up and continued down the stairs, leaning on the wall at the bottom to catch her breath.

She made her way to the door and unlocked the various bolts before opening it to see her old friend and his daughter standing in front of her. It felt really good to see them again.

"How ya been?" Barret asked excitedly. He had missed his friend, too.

"Tee-faah!" Marlene said in her sing-song voice.

The young girl rushed forward to hug Tifa. She seemed to have been prepared to do that and merely waited to recognize the abstract form of Tifa before lunging forward, because she didn't seem to notice Tifa's bandages. The little girl was now tall enough for her head to rest at Tifa's stomach during a hug, meaning she would be hitting the stitches head on.

It was definitely something Marlene hadn't expected. She had known Tifa for years, and they hugged often. Tonight something was different. When Marlene hugged her "aunt," Tifa moved away from her once her arms were around the older woman's legs. Tifa flinched, moving her hips away from Marlene as the little girl's head hit her wound. The pain caused her to lurch slightly forward, and Marlene could feel the slight brush of Tifa's chest moving her hair in the wrong direction.

Marlene pulled back to see what she had done wrong. That's when she – and Barret – noticed Tifa's bandages.

"What the hell happened?" Barret asked. Marlene just said with fear and concern in her voice: "Tifa!"

The older brunette looked like she could barely stand. She was pale and clearly in pain. Barret now felt guilty for knocking so loud and understood why it had taken Tifa a few minutes to get to the front door.

"Just some rowdy patrons," Tifa explained, trying to make it seem like she just had a scratch. She didn't want Marlene to be scared.

Barret didn't believe her.

"You need to be resting!" he said in a gruff voice.

Before Tifa could protest, Barret scooped her up in his strong arms and was carrying her back to her room. The martial artist suddenly felt so small, like her whole body fit in the palms of Barret's hands – well, if he had two hands. He held Tifa's head in his good hand and held his prosthetic arm under her knees. He tried to move as quickly but gently as possible, especially up the stairs.

Tifa realized he was moving differently to try and accommodate her injury, but being carried up the stairs was only marginally less painful than walking them herself. She bounced in Barret's arms. Only she was able to traverse the stairs fluidly, as if she were gliding down them on a smooth track.

Barret tenderly placed Tifa back on her bed. Tifa thanked the stars at that moment that her side of the bed was nearest the door so she wouldn't have to bring up Cloud and her compulsive desire not to lie on _his_ side of the bed.

Marlene came in immediately after Barret, having grabbed a washcloth and drenching it with cool water to place on Tifa's forehead. The bartender hated having to be taken care of. She much preferred to be the one doing the caring.

"When did this happen?" Barret asked.

"Last wee—" Tifa couldn't even get the second word out before she had to completely stop moving and shut her eyes for fear that she would throw up.

Now that she was in her room with the lights turned on, Barret realized she was downright sickly looking. Her skin was not just pale – it was green.

"When was the last time you _ate_?" Barret asked, though he already had an idea what the answer would be.

Tifa remained on her back with her head on the pillow and her eyes closed, but made some kind of circle with her hand in an attempt to mime "yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Barret asked in shock, though he was not all that surprised.

Tifa was just happy her gesturing skills were understood.

"Shiiit," Barret said. He then looked at his daughter. "Marlene, you stay here with Tifa, I'mma go make her some food."

Barret left the room to see what ingredients were available in Tifa's kitchen. Breakfast was his specialty, since it was Marlene's favorite. That little girl loved eggs and pancakes so much she wanted them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Barret had to start getting creative to get the little girl to eat more vegetables, so he started baiting her with omelets. It seemed to be working, as he could now get Marlene to eat vegetables with her eggs. Bacon was a must, but Barret also learned how to cook sausage links and patties to give Marlene a little variety.

Tifa's refrigerator was surprisingly empty, Barret thought, for two people – one of whom was a brilliant cook. Tifa had no eggs, but she did have a bag of frozen cokatolis breasts.

He pan-seared one on the stove, adding in olive oil and some herbs he gathered from a special shelf Tifa had near the window. It wasn't a four-star meal, but it was quick and easy and full of protein.

He cut it into small pieces and brought the plate and fork to Tifa.

"Who brought you these flowers?" Marlene asked. "They're beautiful!"

"I don't know, actually," Tifa said. "There was no note."

Tifa wasn't _really_ sure it was Reno who brought the flowers, and she didn't want to speculate too much so she wouldn't get her hopes up about them being from Cloud or Reno. Having high hopes had led to disaster one too many times in her life.

"They're not from Cloud?" Marlene asked as Barret walked into the room with a plate.

Tifa visibly winced. Barret caught the nuance, but Marlene assumed it was due to physical pain.

"I'm not sure, sweetie," Tifa said, trying to keep her voice positive. "I haven't seen Cloud in a while."

This was the conversation she dreaded – and now it was happening as soon as she let them in. _And_ she was injured. Just an all around bad moment.

"What kind are they?" Marlene asked.

Thank god for a child's short attention span.

"They're Nibelweiss flowers," Tifa said. "They bloom on the trails of Mt. Nibel. They're my favorite, because they remind me of Nibelheim."

"They're pretty," Marlene said again, leaning forward to smell the blooms.

Barret offered Tifa the plate. She was in that stage where she knew she _needed_ to eat, but the thought of food made her want to vomit. She knew that meant she _had_ to eat, so she propped herself up against her headboard and picked at the meat on the plate. She took a few bites. Within minutes, she felt much better.

"Marlene, could you go get Tifa a potion?" Barret asked.

Marlene nodded her head eagerly and ran from the room. Such a helpful little girl.

"So, what happened?" Barret asked Tifa.

"I got shot," Tifa responded with a tinge of guilt.

"What!?"

"A couple patrons were fighting and pulled guns, I knocked one of them out but the other freaked out and accidentally pulled the trigger," Tifa said, trying to explain the situation in a way that made it all seem harmless, as if that were possible.

"Where are the bastards?"

"The one who shot me is dead," Tifa looked down at her plate. She hadn't wanted the man to die, as it seemed pretty obvious to her that he hadn't intended to pull the trigger. "The Turks showed up just after the guns were pulled."

"The TURKS?"

"They've actually been helping out a lot around here. The monsters have gotten so bad in the city, and they're usually around to help me fight them."

Barret couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Turks? _Helping_? There must be some angle to it. The people who dropped the plate on Sector 7 and harassed them continuously as they tried to _save the planet_ couldn't be helping Tifa just to be nice. They were no better than the monsters that terrorized the city, in his mind.

"Barret?"

"What?"

"They really do seem different now. Reno even apologized for Sector 7 and said it's his biggest regret in life."

"Reno? You on a first-name basis with them now?"

"Barret…"

"You're too damn forgiving, Tifa," Barret lectured. "There are some people who don't deserve forgiveness. And anyone associated with Shinra is right at the top of the list in my book."

"Everyone deserves forgiveness, Barret," Tifa said, her voice sullen.

She didn't want to argue with Barret – she knew he had a point. She wasn't really trying to get him to forgive the Turks, she just wanted him to be okay with them – well, okay with her getting close to them, to Reno specifically. She didn't want one of Barret's lectures or his disappointment if something _did_ happen between her and Reno.

Not that she was actually considering that, of course.

"Remember the reactors we blew up? People died, but we deserve forgiveness, right?" Tifa asked, her voice soft and dripping with sadness.

Barret lowered his head and shook it from side to side.

"We were trying to save the planet," he said, more to convince himself than her. "No one but Shinra scum was supposed to get hurt."

"But they did!" Tifa said, more forcefully. Her stitches hurt and she flinched.

"Why you so hung up on this?"

Marlene returned with the potion and a glass of water for the aftertaste. Tifa took the medicine and a gulp of water before placing the glass near the flowers.

"I don't know what you been up to," Barret said, shaking his head again. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Barret…"

"I know, I know, I trust you," he relented. He then picked Marlene up and put her on his lap. "We should probably let Aunt Tifa rest, and we've had a long day, too."

"The guest room is ready for you."

"Can I sleep in here with Auntie Tifa?" Marlene asked, looking up at her father, who then looked at Tifa.

"Of course you can, sweetheart," she said, a warm smile spreading across her lips.

"Just be careful with her stitches," Barret warned.

"I'll be careful!" Marlene promised.

The little girl had grown up in a world where she was forced to mature rather quickly. Back in Sector 7 she had helped Tifa tend to the wounds of the other AVALANCHE members, so she was already quite prepared to help Tifa change the bandages around her waist.

The bartender was grateful for the help, since twisting was too painful for her at the moment, and she was exhausted again just from the little trip downstairs and her interactions with Barret.

She knew that allowing Marlene to share her bed meant the little girl would be sleeping on Cloud's side, but she didn't see the harm. If _she_ slept on Cloud's side it meant he was really gone, but if Marlene slept there then it was like Cloud just gave up his side for the night. At least that's the logic on which Tifa decided.

She turned off the light and settled into bed, knowing she wouldn't be awake for long.

"Cloud grew up in Nibelheim, too, right?" Marlene asked.

"Mmhmm."

"So maybe the flowers really are from him."

"I hope so," Tifa said to humor the child.

_Later…_

Tifa was in the early stages of sleep when she felt a hand on her arm. She knew she must be dreaming, because the hand was too large to be Marlene's and too small to be Barrett's. In this world, anyone could be behind her; if she thought hard enough, it could be Cloud. If she turned over, the illusion could be shattered and she could learn that it was someone else, like Wymer, or Rufus Shinra, or even some random person she barely knew.

Calloused, cool fingers danced along her forearm to her shoulder before dipping down to slide along the curve of her neck. She feared the icy chill of death. Maybe it was her father, or Biggs, or Wedge. Or maybe the Lifestream was trying to tell her something…

Whoever it was gingerly brushed her hair off her neck and tucked a lock behind her ear. She heard the shuffling of clothing behind her as the person knelt down next to her side of the bed to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I just wanted to come check on you, yo," a voice whispered in her ear.

All at once Tifa realized this was no dream. And that was _not_ Cloud. Without regard for her injury, she flipped over, horrified to discover Reno had snuck into her house and now hovered over her bed. She cried out – in pain and in surprise – waking Marlene, who also screamed.

Tifa had twisted so quickly that Reno was startled backward onto his ass. Thankfully, his head didn't hit the nightstand on the way down, or else he would have found himself sprawled on the floor next to Tifa Lockhart's bed – wet and covered with damaged flowers. Not the _worst_ way he had ever been discovered in someone else's home, but certainly not a way he would like.

"Tifa?" Marlene's tired little voice spoke up when she settled down.

_Oh, shit there's a kid in here,_ Reno thought to himself, suddenly becoming _very_ embarrassed.

Without another thought he shimmied under the bed to wait for an escape. Well, _now_ this situation felt very familiar.

Tifa flipped the light on to make sure she wasn't crazy – Reno really _had_ broken into her house and kissed her forehead as she slept. She didn't see him on the floor, but the flower vase had just finished wobbling. _That bastard_.

Barret opened the door and came charging into the room.

"You alright? I heard screaming," he said.

"Yeah, I just turned in my sleep and hurt my side," Tifa said.

She pulled the blanket down and lifted her camisole to see if the stitches had ripped. Her side definitely hurt, but she didn't appear to be bleeding. She remembered what the doctor had told her: Potions to ease regular pain, Cure spells for severe pain, and return to the hospital if the stitches rip.

"Marlene?"

"I was just worried about Tifa," the little girl said.

_Thank god she didn't notice him, _Tifa said a silent prayer of thanks.

Barret nodded to the two girls and left, closing the door behind him. Tifa picked up her water glass and looked at Marlene.

"Marlene, could I trouble you to get me some fresh water?" she asked sweetly.

Marlene agreed and ran out of the room.

Tifa felt the bed shake underneath her and sat up as Reno scooted out from underneath.

"Thanks for gettin' rid of the kid, babe," he said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tifa hissed. She was whispering, but Reno could tell she would be yelling if she could.

"I came to make sure you were okay," he said, shrugging.

"You couldn't just use a phone?" she tried to ask, but the pain in her side was too great and she doubled over, hugging her arms around her stomach.

"Shit, hold on," Reno said, quickly reaching a hand out to her shoulder.

Tifa flinched, but couldn't retreat as Reno reached for the mag rod clipped to his belt. Within seconds she was surrounded by green light and felt the pain subsiding, replaced by a cooling effect. The hum of the magic dissipated, yet Reno kept his hand on her shoulder, bending at the waist to meet her at her level.

"I did text, but you didn't answer so I..." his voice trailed off. Tifa caught on quickly.

"You were worried about me?" she whispered even quieter than before, slowly standing back up to full height.

"No! It's just…" Reno paused for a second to come up with a better explanation. "I woulda gotten a lot of shit at work if I had let a member of AVALANCHE die…"

Tifa looked like she was about to answer but heard footsteps down the hall and quickly started pushing Reno toward the window. "You have to get out of here, Marlene will be back any second," she insisted.

"Feel better, yo." He said before kissing her forehead and vanishing silently from the room.

Marlene came back in with a fresh glass of water and handed it to Tifa.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said.

She took a large sip and set it down next to the flowers.

"Did you have to cast Cure on yourself?" Marlene inquired as the two settled back into bed. Tifa nodded.

"Mmhmm, I really twisted my stitched."

"Isn't your materia downstairs?"

That smart little girl never missed a thing.

"I brought it up here earlier, just in case," Tifa lied. Marlene didn't buy it, but also didn't press further. She had a feeling Tifa wasn't telling the truth but had no idea why.

After settling back into bed, Tifa checked her PHS. Two missed texts and even a missed call from Reno. They had come in while she was struggling to the door to meet Barret. He really had tried to reach her the normal way before resorting to Turk instinct.

Both girls fell asleep easily, though Tifa was fearful she might have another "dream" again involving Reno.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno cursed his luck. He was so close to her bed, but of course that kid and her big oaf father would be visiting. And next week he had to fly Rufus to Junon. The last time he avoided her, she got shot, and he wasn't about to let that happen again. But now he couldn't just hang around and flirt with her while Barret and his daughter were around. He'd have to find another way.

He had no idea what he was doing. He could flirt just fine and he knew how to quickly seduce an easy woman, but Tifa was different. Whatever suaveness he usually possessed had flown right out the window with this woman. Now whenever he tried to be not an asshole he ended up using his Turk training and screwing everything up. Is this how normal guys felt?

He thought back to how she reacted after he kissed her forehead. He thought she knew it was him. Who else would it be?

Oh, right… Strife.

At least tomorrow was Saturday. He could spend the day scheming and finding an opportunity to be near her. Maybe he could just walk right up to her. That big man might instigate a fight and cause her to step in to stop it, proving she had warmed up to the Turks. Who knows, maybe he and the human firearm would become pals.

He laughed to himself.

_The next day…_

Oh, sweet Elena. Sweet, sweet, sympathetic Elena.

Reno suddenly found her overly caring saccharine side endearing – but only in this moment because it was advantageous to him.

He had slept in later than usual due to his twilight excursion into Tifa's bedroom – the third time he had been in there and still he was not having sex with her; something that needed to be rectified at some point – and was awoken by a nagging ring. When Elena wanted someone's attention, she would _not_ stop until she got it.

He considered throwing the phone against the wall to the grave site of his alarm clock, but that would necessitate the purchase of a new phone _and _a new alarm clock, and he wasn't making two stops today.

He let out an exaggerated, immature groan and picked up the phone.

"Yo," he said before getting an earful from Elena about why it took him so long to answer. "It's Saturday," was his response.

From there the conversation actually became interesting. Elena asked Reno if he wanted to go see how Tifa was doing and to see if she needed any help since she was all alone. Reno wasn't about to tell her that the oaf and the kid were with her – he couldn't let Elena know that he knew that, since the Turks had spent all day Friday together and parted ways from a different bar early in the morning since Seventh Heaven was closed when they finished patrol.

But Reno being Reno, he couldn't let Elena know he was even the least bit interested in visiting their favorite bartender.

"Meh," he said, as coolly as possible. "Got nothin' better to do I guess."

_Nailed it._

Elena hung up after Reno agreed to meet her at Seventh Heaven in an hour.

"He thinks he's so smooth," she said out loud to herself in a smug tone.

Reno was trying to play this cool, but Elena saw right through it. He hadn't been himself the past two weeks and his excuses didn't add up. Elena suspected Rude was starting to get wise as well. After they found the flowers in Tifa's room, Rude kept glancing over at Reno as if silently daring him to admit to what he had done.

She didn't know _how_ he got the flowers, but she knew it was him. She actually thought it was really sweet. It was so unlike Reno. Elena had _never_ seen him actually like a girl before and found his efforts charming, if not clumsy. She also hated the fact that she was suddenly jealous of how _Reno_ was treating a woman. Even with those four days of avoiding the bar – which Elena supposed must have been some part of a plan – he was treating Tifa better than Elena had been treated by a guy in a while. She actually wished Tseng was acting more like Reno.

"Tch," she said at the thought.

Elena realized Rude's chances with Tifa were probably over, but Reno might just have a shot if he actually did something more than flirting with her from a distance. That's _one_ of the reasons she made sure to invite him to go with her to see Tifa. She also invited Rude, of course.

Her other reason was that she hated being alone. It's why she was so dedicated to her job. Her coworkers were her own little messed up family and when she was away from them, she felt lonely. She hated her days off and always tried to get her fellow Turks to go out for drinks, even though going to Seventh Heaven meant she would be ignored.

She finished getting ready and walked out the door, planning to stop for some lunch before meeting the others.

The Turks approached Seventh Heaven and knocked. No answer. They looked at each other and shrugged, assuming it would just take Tifa longer to get down the stairs in her condition. But after several minutes, she still hadn't answered.

"Don't think she's here, yo," Reno said, walking back to the sidewalk and lighting another cigarette.

Rude and Elena sighed and turned to meet their colleague. Probably should have called first, but they assumed she would still be bedridden today.

As luck would have it, Tifa was actually walking down the street back toward her bar, ice cream cone in hand. Unluckily, she was with one of her former AVALANCHE companions and a little girl.

Elena felt like they were all suddenly in an old western showdown. Three against three, even if three of the three weren't putting up a threat. Tifa smiled when she saw the Turks and gave a little wave, but the large man next to her – Elena really didn't remember his name – looked pretty menacing.

"We came to check on you, yo," Reno said, his arms folded across his chest as if he didn't want to be there. Tifa knew better, enjoying this little secret they had.

"How are you?" Rude asked, ignoring Barret's presence.

"She's doin fine," Barret answered for Tifa, moving his good hand toward his gun arm.

Tifa chuckled and licked her ice cream cone before looking up at Barret. Reno got a little lightheaded.

"I can answer for myself, Barret," she said without a hint of indignation. She actually seemed to giggle a little as she said it.

"So, you're feeling better then?" Elena asked.

"It still hurts a lot, but much better today than yesterday," Tifa said. "I used a cure spell this morning."

"That's good to hear," Rude said, though as usual his voice hid all emotion.

"Thank you all for everything you did," Tifa said before turning again to look at Barret. "They helped the night I was hurt. They took me to the hospital, visited during the week, and helped me get home when I discharged."

Barret looked genuinely shocked.

"Marle couldn't have helped you? Or Wymer?" he asked. Tifa rolled her eyes like a teenager disagreeing with a parent.

"Marle visited, but you know how she is. I didn't want her to take that much time away from the orphanage. She'd probably still be here if I let her take me home. And Wymer's so busy trying to keep Edge safe," Tifa explained.

"So the Turks did all that for you?" Barret asked, stroking his chin with his good hand.

Tifa nodded her head. "Mmhmm." She licked her ice cream cone a few more times. Reno's left eye twitched a little.

"Did you ever figure out where those flowers came from?" Elena asked.

Reno wanted to shoot her a look or smile at her question, but he settled on remaining exactly as he had before – as if he weren't the sender and didn't give a rat's ass who was.

"Nope," Tifa said, though she didn't seem upset or even interested in the mystery. Then she decided to toy with Reno a little. "I think they must be from Cloud, he's the only one who knows they're my favorite."

She smiled at no one in particular and took another long lick of ice cream. Reno wanted to leave to get away from this torture. Reno wanted to stay and watch her lick every last ounce of that ice cream.

"Would you all like a drink?" Tifa asked after some more small talk.

Barrett took a deep breath. He didn't appear onboard with the idea, but he didn't appear entirely against it either. If these bastards had helped Tifa when she needed it, he might be able to overlook their past murders – at least for the afternoon.

Marlene didn't seem to connect that these were the same people responsible for kidnapping Aerith two years ago. Of course, that was Tseng, so she probably didn't even know.

"Sure," Rude said in typical Rude fashion.

"Always down to get plastered," Reno added.

Elena nodded her head.

There was a heaviness in the air inside the bar, filled still with the tension between the Turks and Barret. Tifa hoped that drinking with the Turks would help Barret see that they could be forgiven. Barret wasn't so sure. That red-headed one had started the process that killed Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, and thousands of other people. The bald one pushed the button.

_Flashback…_

"I ain't done with you yet! You hear me! Think you can come up in here – do what you want – and we're gonna take it?" Barret had been firing at a Shinra helicopter that was flying near the top of the Sector 7 pillar when Cloud and Tifa joined him.

It had been awhile since he had seen either of them – actually, he thought Cloud had died – so he was surprised to see him at all. He didn't have time to be suspicious of their absence, as he was trying to keep Shinra out of _his_ Sector.

"Barret!" Tifa called when she saw him.

As soon as she spoke, the helicopter aimed at her and began firing. Cloud immediately jumped in front of her and drew his sword to protect her from the hail of bullets keeping her from getting to Barret.

"Tifa! Get your ass behind cover! Now! Chopper's gonna chew you up!" Barret yelled.

Cloud ran toward the equipment where Barret was standing to draw the helicopter's fire from Tifa, sliding as he approached to duck beneath the attack.

"Still alive and kicking?" he asked Barret before looking around the other side of the tanks for any stray guards.

"Damn right! Leadin' man sticks around till the credits roll!" Barret yelled over the gunfire.

As he spoke, Cloud reached out an arm to grab Tifa as she ran for cover, pulling her close to ensure she was safe.

"Though we gotta keep moving if we wanna make it that far. You ready?" Barret asked.

"Yup," Cloud responded.

At that moment, the helicopter's fire finally broke through the metal barrier of the tanks hiding AVALANCHE, causing them to explode. The three warriors leapt out of the way to see the helicopter piloted by the Turks approaching the tower. A tall, slender redhead leaned out of the helicopter's open door and stared at Cloud.  
"Time for a rematch, huh…" he said before calling to his partner – Rude – to toss him his weapon.

The helicopter swooped in and Cloud turned to notice the man for the first time, instantly recognizing him as the Turk he had fought earlier at Aerith's church.

"You!" he yelled as Reno still hovered above them, tapping his mag rod against his shoulder.

"It's nothing personal… bitch!" Reno called before jumping down toward Cloud with his weapon drawn and poised to strike. He landed on Cloud's sword as the blond tried to avoid the sparks from Reno's EMR. With a great heave, Cloud threw the redhead off of him and back several feet. Cloud lunged for him but Reno was just a hair faster than the mako-enhanced swordsman.

"Missed me!" Reno chided as he ran full speed toward the control panel atop the pillar.

Cloud dashed to catch up but was blocked by a wall of bullets from the helicopter. Barret unloaded his gun arm at the chopper and called to Reno: "You're next, asshole!"

"Sorry, losers!" Reno said when he reached the control panel. "Gotta play for keeps today. No time to dick around."

He snapped his EMR to his belt and began furiously typing on the control panel. The screen above it flashed with red lights as a voice announced: "Plate separation authorized. Awaiting confirmation."

"Yeah, yeah, coming right up," Reno groaned.

Cloud used Barret's distraction to again lunge for Reno, who was, again, too quick for him, blocking the massive sword with his mag rod.

"No you don't!" Reno called out. "Not when I'm working!"

He batted the sword away and pushed Cloud back. The blond scrambled to his feet, once again surprised that someone who hadn't received the same mako and Jenova enhancements as him was able to throw him around so easily. Reno began stalking toward Cloud, twirling his weapon to his side. Cloud realized the redhead was hesitating and called him out.

"Press it," he dared.

"Now, now… You ain't got shit on us."

A battle ensued. Even with Barret and Tifa's help, Reno was a strong fighter, but they eventually wore him down. They were close to finishing him off when a voice from the helicopter said over the speaker: "Prepping for bombing run, how copy?"

"Say what!?" Reno yelped. He ran from AVALANCHE and leapt over a chain-link fence to recover while the punks – and that gorgeous fighter – dealt with Rude in the helicopter.

Tifa could have sworn she saw Reno's breath hitch when the helicopter crashed and he briefly thought his partner had died. For a split second she thought there might be some humanity to the madman who had just attacked her friends and set in motion the plan to destroy Sector 7. That notion was quickly erased when he was rejoined by his partner and the two of them started attacking again.

She couldn't see much of the fight while trapped in the electrified pyramid, but she remembered seeing Reno crouching on the floor, trying to steady his breath, when the pyramid finally broke. She tried to help Cloud and Barret fight Rude, but whenever she approached him he simply pushed her away and cast Sleep on her. For her, it was an infuriating fight – and she didn't notice the boys struggling so much.

When both Turks had fallen, she rushed to the control panel, but had no idea how to stop the plate separation. She wanted to scream out at her inability to help, to stop the pillar from crushing everyone she knew and her home. She felt useless. She had fought so hard to get back through the sewers, through the train graveyard, and up the pillar just to fail.

She didn't see Reno crawling toward his mag rod behind her or the whispers beginning to circle.

Cloud held the tip of his sword to Reno's face while Barret pointed his gun arm at Rude.

"How do we stop it?" Cloud asked.

Reno rolled onto his back and sighed. "Who knows?"

Rude leapt up and ran to the control panel, the whispers encircling everyone atop the pillar. When they cleared, Tifa was lying motionless on the steel grating and Rude had just pressed the button to authorize the plate separation. He turned toward Cloud and Barret and the two could see almost a hint of regret in his stern expression.

"Five minutes to go," he told them before picking up his partner and evacuating the area.

_Present day…_

Barret just couldn't let it go. He had sat in silence for some time as Tifa fielded questions from the jackasses or whatever their names were. She answered pleasantly, and Barret hated how she could be so accepting of a bunch of murderers in her bar. He tried to contain his anger, for Tifa's sake and for Marlene's, but dammit, he just couldn't let it go.

He slammed his fist on the counter, causing everyone's drinks to jump a little. All three Turks, Tifa, and Marlene (who was sitting at a table with some coloring books while the grown-ups talked) looked at him in surprise.

"GodDAMMIT" Barret yelled, his voice gruff and reverberating off the walls. "I can't just sit here with these _murderers_ Tifa, I'm sorry. I can't."

He stood up to leave, but Tifa spoke to calm him down.

"Barret, please, we don't have to fight them anymore," she said. Her voice could soothe a dragon. "I think you should also remember that they didn't fight us in Wutai and stood back when we were going after Sephiroth."

"She's right, yo," Reno piped up, though he didn't look at Barret or Tifa. He took another sip of his drink before continuing. "We had orders to kill you all, but we kept letting you go."

This didn't alleviate Barret's anger at all.

"Well ain't that jes' dandy," Barret said condescendingly.

Reno shrugged. He actually _was_ attempting to make the situation better. Oh, well. He tried.

"Barret, really, they're good customers and they haven't caused any trouble," she said, omitting the fact that Reno and Rude had stolen her and Vincent's research in Nibelheim. "Besides, Reno apologized for Sector 7."

Had he? Had he actually said he was sorry? Now Reno was thinking back to the first few times he had tried to talk to Tifa. Uh, yep, nope, he had not actually apologized. He said she killed people and they were just following orders – that _definitely_ wasn't an apology or a step into her good graces – and then he said dropping the plate was one of his demons and he regretted it. That was _sort_ of an apology, but he would have argued otherwise.

But he took it as a chance to score a few points with Tifa. It seemed like she was giving him a chance to make amends with one of her friends. He should probably take it.

"It eats me up inside," he said, though his tone was a little sarcastic.

Barret growled. Was he a human or some kind of monster-human-cyborg hybrid?

"Oh, I just bet it does," Barret snapped.

Reno actually started praying that no one would ask him whether he would do it again right now. The truth is he _would_ if he was instructed to do so, and it would kill him inside just as much as it did two years ago. But orders were orders and Shinra kept him employed. He really didn't want to have to say that in front of Tifa though, as it would definitely take him two steps back in her eyes. He supposed if he were asked, he could lie, but that might make him look weak in front of Rude and Elena. He figured the best course of action was to say something else to try and get off the topic.

"It does," he said plainly. "And I think I've done enough around here to make amends for it. I don't need to be judged by the likes of you."

Now Reno stood up and reached in his pockets to produce some gil to pay his tab, even though Tifa had been the one to suggest drinks. Looks like he wouldn't be able to catch her alone or prove his worth today. He'd just have to take the hit to avoid hurting his pride or risk angering her.

"Reno, you don't have to leave," Tifa said, honestly shocking everyone. "Barret, please, we have to move on from this. There's no point in holding grudges."

Barret sat back on his stool and pouted. He didn't like this one bit, but he trusted Tifa's judgment.

"Fine, let's just keep drinking," Barret said. Tifa smiled and poured him another drink.

"_Now_ you're speaking my language," Reno said, taking his seat again.

He took the money back as well. He'd find a way to "tip" her another time.

The rest of the afternoon went along rather pleasantly, Tifa thought. And she was feeling well enough to open the bar, with plans to close early if she needed. She was wearing a sundress with red flowers on it to cover her midriff and hide her bandages. It had been driving Reno insane all day. In one swift motion he could have her naked thanks to a dress like that.

He had taken several cigarette breaks in the hope that she would take the hint and take the trash out for another secret rendezvous, but she didn't. When he saw her leave to take the trash out he thought it would be too obvious if he followed her. _Think, man, think_. What could he do?

On his way back from the bathroom (he thought maybe he could at least catch her near the back room) he saw his answer: That little girl. Get in good with the child and her little child mind would tell Tifa to like him. The little girl had been coloring by herself at a table in the corner of the bar near the counter, and Tifa was keeping a close eye on her. Barret also spent some time with the girl but was – surprisingly – having some interesting conversation with Rude and Elena.

"You really should have stayed and drank with us," Rude said, a little tipsy, regarding their encounter in Wutai two years ago. Barret had wandered into Turtle's Paradise after Cloud, Vincent, and Aerith had found the Turks, deciding to have a drink while he waited for the others to come back.

"Shiite, I kinda wanted to," Barret said. "But I just as equally wanted to kick yo asses."

"That's what _I_ wanted to do to you all!" Elena stated before all three broke out into laughter.

_Alcohol really did solve all of life's problems._

The exchange made him think back to another memory in Wutai, one he had kept locked up all these years due to the guilt it caused.

_Flashback…_

Reno needed a cigarette after expending so much energy keeping Elena from attacking Cloud and his entourage in the bar, so he pulled a pack out of his inside jacket pocket and placed one between his lips before moving to stand from his chair. He took a look back at Barret, who had just entered and scowled at them as he took a seat at the bar, before sighing and heading out for a smoke.

As he stepped outside a side door and lit up, he noticed the other AVALANCHE chick – the one who kept popping into his dreams – walking toward the bar from the shrine.

She was alone and didn't seem to notice Reno as she walked past, her arms wrapped around herself and her gaze fixed on the ground. A light breeze gently dislodged her hair from her shoulder, exposing her sullen expression. Reno pinched his eyebrows together as he studied her, wondering what could make such a beautiful creature suffer. His eye fell to her skirt once she had passed him.

As he leered, his ears perked up as footsteps approached from where she had emerged. Reno snapped his head toward the sound, assuming it would be one of the other AVALANCHE cockroaches that traveled with Cloud, but he saw someone much more heinous. He immediately dropped his cigarette and re-entered Turtle's Paradise, appearing as though he still had not a care in the world.

"We should probably get moving, yo," he told his comrades, who had just received another round of drinks. "Corneo's here."

Elena and Rude shot a glance at him. Shinra intel had indicated he had been killed after the plate fell. Somehow that sewer rat just kept finding a way to survive.

Reno appeared calm before his colleagues, but inside his gut had dropped. Seeing Corneo stalking Tifa had upset something within him, something he only thought existed for his fellow Turks. He felt the need to stop the lascivious pervert before he could get to her.

"Let's split up to cover more ground, he could be anywhere," Reno ordered.

Had they stayed together, Elena might not have been captured and nearly killed.

_Present day…_

Reno shook the thought from his head. Too many regrets today.

He strolled past the bar to where Marlene was sitting with her coloring books.

"Can I sit with you?" he asked.

The little girl looked at him and turned red, then nodded and smiled. Reno pulled a chair around the table to sit next to her and look over her drawings.

"I'm Reno, what's your name?"

"…Marlene," she said with a giggle.

"What are you drawing here, Marlene?"

"Cloud. Do you know him?"

Reno rolled his eyes so the girl couldn't see. What was everyone's obsession with _that guy_?

"Yeah, I know him. He's alright," Reno lied through his teeth. All part of the plan.

"I hope he comes back soon," Marlene said, her voice saddened.

"We all do." Another lie. And this one stung. Reno needed more time with Tifa before that pokey-headed bucket of fail came back into the picture. As it stood now, Tifa probably wouldn't have any concern about running back into Cloud's arms. He needed to change that.

"Hey, Marlene," the little girl looked up at him with wide eyes. "Have you ever been in a helicopter before?"

"No, but I've seen them."

"Well, I'm a helicopter pilot. What would you say if I took you and your dad and your auntie Tifa up in one someday?"

Marlene smiled, showing all her teeth, though at least one baby tooth was missing.

"You'll take auntie Tifa, too?" Marlene asked.

"Sure, if she wants to."

"Did _you_ give Tifa those flowers?"

And suddenly Reno found himself lost for words. Thankfully Tifa came over and put a hand on Marlene's shoulder to interrupt them. She stood between the two, and due to Reno hunching over to slump to Marlene's level, it meant his face was right next to Tifa's hip. He could smell her perfume and feel the heat from her belly.

"Is he being nice?" Tifa asked Marlene.

"Tch," Reno said under his breath, sitting back in his chair. As if he would antagonize a little girl.

Marlene eagerly nodded her head. "He said he would take us all up in a helicopter!"

"Did he?" Tifa looked at Reno. He looked at her through heavy lids and nodded. Tifa crouched down to Marlene's level. "Well, that certainly sounds fun, doesn't it?"

Marlene agreed. Reno mentally high fived himself. Pure genius.

"Okay, let's let Reno get back to his friends, okay Marlene?"

Marlene smiled again and grabbed a new piece of paper. "Byyye Reno…" she said without looking at him.

Reno sat back at the bar next to Rude and resumed drinking.

"Have a nice chat?" Elena asked.

Reno was confused. He hadn't noticed Elena and Rude watching him talk to Marlene. Barret was lost in his drink at the moment, or he probably wouldn't have approved. Elena had noticed it first, and casually smacked Rude in the arm with the back of her hand to get his attention. A slight smirk escaped Rude's lips when he saw Reno talking to the little girl. Rude didn't think Reno cared for children, though he supposed the redhead had quite a bit in common with them, given his immaturity and penchant for pranks. His eyes then narrowed when he realized Reno must be up to something by talking to Barret's kid.

Reno wasn't able to get Tifa alone that night, but he figured getting the kid to warm up to him was just as good – at least as far as Tifa's affections went. He did want to take Tifa up in the helicopter, just not with Barret and Marlene. Still, whatever worked. He walked home that night with his usual swagger, his hands clasped behind his head.

Barret helped Tifa close up the bar early since her injury had started bothering her again. The brunette took Marlene and her drawings upstairs to get ready for bed and the little girl helped Tifa change her bandages again. While changing the bandages, Tifa looked over at the top picture on Marlene's stack of drawings.

"Marlene, what's that?" she asked.

"That's a helicopter," she said matter-of-factly, as if the black blob with a bunch of lines sticking out of the top was just as clear as a photograph.

"Mmhmm," Tifa said.

"And that's daddy, and me, and you, and Reno," Marlene added.

Tifa bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from saying what she wanted to say. He was crafty, she had to give him that. But bribing a child to try and get Tifa into bed? That was low. That was _real_ low.

"Let's go to bed, sweetie," Tifa said, kissing Marlene on the forehead.

Tifa settled into bed herself and had just turned off the lights when her phone buzzed. Despite her annoyance with Reno for clearly targeting Marlene that night, she felt a smile cross her lips knowing that it would be a text from him.

"Helicopter tomorrow?" it said.

_Oh, was he really serious?_

This was certainly a strange turn of events, she thought. Was Reno trying to be… nice? Had to be an act. But Marlene did seem excited about his suggestion now…

Tifa drifted off to sleep before she could think too much longer about Reno's game. If it made Marlene happy, she would go along with it, provided Barret would trust a Turk enough to let them fly him into the sky.


	20. A Day At The Beach

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 10/10/2020: Massive edits throughout. Additional dialogue and scene between Reno and Tifa.**

Chapter 20:

Marlene had been chattering about Reno's promise all morning. Tifa honestly thought the little girl might forget what the Turk said to her the previous night by the time she woke up – or that she would be less amenable to the idea given that Reno was a stranger to her. No such luck. And now Barret was irritated.

"He said _what_?" he asked, his voice raised and guttural. "_When_ did he talk to you?"

"Last night," Marlene offered in her most innocent-sounding tone. Barret's face contorted even further into a grimace. What kind of man talks to a little girl that isn't his own and makes promises to her about taking her on trips?

"He offered to take us all up today," Tifa added, as if that might help make Barret more comfortable.

"Out of the question," Barret said defiantly.

"Why not?" Marlene asked with a bit of a whine to her voice. Barret's eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

"Because he's the one who—"

"Barret!" Tifa interjected, giving him a look.

However much Barret might hate Reno, he couldn't tell Marlene what the redhead had done. She was only four when the plate dropped, and Barret didn't need to bring up a trauma that had affected her childhood so deeply. It was better for her to be blissfully ignorant of everyone who was involved rather than be reminded of that day.

"It's not happening," Barret insisted.

They were all seated in Tifa's kitchen eating breakfast – eggs and pancakes, at Marlene's behest.

"Daddy!"

"Barret, she really wants to go, and remember what we talked about yesterday…"

"Drinking with them Turks is one thing, but letting one – _that_ one – take us into the air in some rickety helicopter is out of the question," Barret said. He then shifted his gaze to Marlene and let his expression drop, looking into her big brown eyes and feeling his resolve tremble. "Marlene, we can't always get what we want, and we can't expect other people to do what we want."

Tifa didn't interject again. Barret was Marlene's guardian, and truth be told, Tifa didn't really think Reno was being serious even with his text the night before. Nor did she think any of this was a good idea since the monster population was getting out of control and trying to protect Marlene during any trip would be difficult.

"But he offered!" Marlene exclaimed, throwing her hands out to the side. "He's nice!"

Barret and Tifa both snorted at that comment.

Barret hated to disappoint Marlene, especially since he had been doing that for most of her life. But he was also worried about her safety – that Turk could be planning something against AVALANCHE for all he knew. Still, if they all went up with him, maybe they would be safe. After all, he had always been a pushover during their earlier quest. Barret hung his head and took a deep breath. He shook his head in disbelief of what he was about to say.

He lifted his head and saw Marlene, wide-eyed and hopeful, staring back at him. He couldn't say no to that little face.

"Okay, but _one_ short trip and that's it," he said, trying to maintain some semblance of authority.

Marlene got up from the table and ran around to give her father a hug. Tifa smiled at the display of familial love. She missed that. She missed having Marlene around her home like in Sector 7. Things were so much simpler then – and she wasn't alone.

She stepped into her bedroom to text Reno back, figuring he wouldn't answer or would cancel or wouldn't show up at their meeting time and place if one was agreed upon. The whole thing was a ploy to get her attention, and bailing would certainly be a very Reno thing to do, she thought. If that were the case, she'd need to come up with something equally as entertaining to excite Marlene. If Reno let down that little girl…

"Good for helicopter today? Can you pick us up at 11?" she sent the text and held her breath.

She had never responded to one of Reno's texts before and didn't want to make it a habit. This was all for Marlene. Reno would have to behave himself around Barret and his daughter, of that Tifa was thankful.

Then there was that little part of her that thought it might be _fun_ to go up in a helicopter and spend the day with Reno. As much as she told herself she hated their encounters, she was really coming to enjoy what each new day would bring – whether he would sneak up on her and how he would make her smile.

Oh, Gods help her, she actually _liked_ his presence. Couldn't be, she just missed _Cloud's_ presence. She hadn't experienced liking someone other than Cloud before, so this was all new territory to her. It was exciting and horrifying at the same time. She really hoped Cloud would just come home soon to end all these thoughts rattling around in her brain.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno woke up to the sound of his phone buzzing. Probably Elena again, wanting to hang out on Sunday so she wouldn't be alone. Weakling. Why couldn't she just drink alone like everyone else?

He checked his phone and immediately shot up in bed, the sheets falling below his naked torso, when he saw who had texted him. He even rubbed his eyes to be sure he was reading correctly.

"1 text message from Tifa."

Hot damn, that little girl worked a miracle. Maybe kids weren't so bad. They did seem to like Reno for some reason, but he hadn't usually tried to connect with any. He had that reputation and all; couldn't look like he'd pull his punches if children were around. He destroyed Sector 7, dammit, who knows how many kids died by his hand.

He shuddered at the thought. That, more than anything, had always haunted him. President Shinra ordered him to kill all those people, including children, just because of some little eco-terrorist group.

He shook his head to dismiss the thought. He had a text waiting for him.

"Good for helicopter today? Can you pick us up at 11?"

So, it wasn't the sexiest text, but it did mean he would get to see her if he got his shit together. He checked the time on his phone after reflexively looking to where his alarm clock used to sit. He hadn't bought a new one, and the one in pieces on the floor wasn't talking anymore.

Shit! It was already past 10!

Reno jumped out of bed as if he had gotten an urgent, direct command from Rufus Shinra himself, then ran to the bathroom for a quick shower and shave. No time for coffee. Wait, there was _always_ time for coffee.

It was the fastest he had gotten to the office from his apartment in, well, ever. The helicopter was on the roof.

Okay, so he didn't _exactly_ have permission to use the helicopter whenever he wanted, but that hadn't stopped him before – and he hadn't been caught. He knew how to get to the roof undetected, even though he did feel a pang of guilt using his Turk training against his employer. Just a pang, though. Besides, he and Rude were the only professional pilots Shinra had at the moment, it _basically_ belonged to him.

Twenty past 11, but the chopper was fast. He had to fly it back over Old Midgar and then quite away around Edge to keep it out of sight of any Shinra employees. Thankfully, the new Shinra building had been erected near the wall to Old Midgar, making it easier to sneak the vehicle off company property.

It felt good to be back in the sky again. It'd been a couple months since he and Rude went to Nibelheim, and he had been itching to get back into the pilot's seat. Plus, he was going to get to spend his day with Tifa (and the oaf and the kid, but whatever) and he was much more excited about the antics they could get up to than spending another day drinking with Rude and Elena.

Don't get him wrong, he _loved_ drinking with Rude and Elena, but he needed a change of pace, even for just one day.

He had texted Tifa back to tell her to meet him on the outskirts of the city to the east. With hardship came ingenuity. Since the monster attacks had gotten so bad businesses had to close, Edge learned to adapt. Business owners who could afford it built roof entrances to their establishments, while average citizens constructed roof-top pathways. The monsters were generally confined to the ground, so residents of the world's largest city created a whole system of skywalks and ladders to keep the city running as best it could. It was crude in some parts of town, with simple planks of wood and whatever else residents could find that would fit between buildings to allow passage.

Since Tifa lived above her bar, roof access wasn't possible, but she did work out a deal with the one-story business next door that allowed people to climb down the other building and walk just a few feet to the front door of Seventh Heaven. Most of her patrons didn't see the brief danger as a hindrance to their drinking, but she had to start cutting people off before they got too drunk to traverse the skywalks.

To get to the outskirts of the city, Tifa, Barret, and Marlene climbed and carefully crossed the paths leading east. Barret carried Marlene over the more dangerous bridges, but the little girl quickly showed she was adept at making her way over the make-shift walkways.

It's how they had gotten to the ice-cream shop the day before, but had decided to use the sidewalk on the way back to Seventh Heaven since there didn't seem to be any monsters in the short distance to the bar – and the rooftop paths had become crowded.

Reno half expected them not to show, but after a couple swings in the chopper, he saw her with the big man and the little girl. Barret was shooting at a few doomrats that were trying to get into the city as Tifa was helping Marlene down from the ladder against the last building in Edge.

Reno switched the chopper to autopilot briefly so he could fire some warning bullets from the helicopter's machine gun on the earth outside the city. It would certainly draw attention to the vehicle, but this location was specifically chosen because it was far enough away from where any snooping Shinra employees lived.

The distraction worked to scare off the fiends and he set the helicopter down a little further from Edge before shutting off the engine and disembarking. He trotted around the vehicle to greet his new companions, taking immediate notice of what Tifa was wearing.

"Where to?" he said cheerfully as he looked them over.

Tifa donned a pair of jean cutoff shorts that showed off even more of her toned legs than her usual miniskirt, along with an oversized crop top that sloped down one shoulder to reveal the thick red strap of a bikini. Reno's mind instantly filled with thoughts of what might be uncovered when she removed the coverup; visions of seeing what remained covered by her damp dress from the night they kissed dancing through his head. Completing Tifa's ensemble were flipflops and a big floppy hat with large round sunglasses that nearly covered her face. She was clearly prepared for a beach trip.

"The beach!" Marlene said excitedly. She too, had sunglasses and a bathing suit on, though hers was a purple one-piece.

Barret was dressed… as Barret. He never had time for beach trips. He was also standing with his arms folded and his gaze narrowed on Reno, searching for the dastardly scheme the Turk had worked out against them.

"The beach it is, then," Reno beamed, though his cheerfulness seemed a bit contrived.

Things couldn't have worked out better, in Reno's mind, as he led them back to the helicopter. He'd get to spend the day racking up points with Tifa and staring at her half naked. He had always wondered – but never complained – why women were perfectly comfortable wearing basically their underwear in public so long as they were near the ocean. Tifa had been _so_ concerned about him seeing her in her underwear yet here she was offering herself up on a silver platter, and she didn't seem concerned. He loved it.

"You don't actually have to land," Tifa told him quietly as they approached the helicopter. "I told her it was most likely just a short flight and not an all-day trip."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Reno said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I got nothing else to do today. Might as well laze around a beach." He turned to look over his shoulder at Barret and Marlene, who were a few feet behind them. "Besides, any chance to see you half naked is worth a sunburn."

Tifa wanted to shove him for his comment but clenched her fist instead. She couldn't let Barret know he had said anything crass to her or he might get suspicious about Reno's intentions. She didn't want Marlene's day to be ruined over an errant comment.

"Expect payback," she whispered when he realized she would not retaliate in front of Barret.

Reno grinned and opened the side door, offering his hand to help Tifa step inside. She accepted, and he did the same for Marlene, but Barret pulled her away and lifted her up on his own to Tifa's awaiting arms. Reno shrugged and returned to the pilot's seat, giving instructions on how to use the headsets so they could keep in contact before taking off.

They were already over the ocean when Tifa made her way to the cockpit, supporting herself by leaning on the back of the two pilot's chairs.

"Shouldn't we have landed back there?" she called over the roar of the engine.

"You said the beach, right?" Reno asked.

"Yes, I thought you understood the _Midgar_ beaches," she said.

Barret's distrust level was rising as soon as he saw the chopper fly over the ocean between the Eastern and Western Continents. He _knew_ that Turk was taking them somewhere for an ambush.

"So, I'm taking you to the beach!" Reno called over the headset.

It was then that the three passengers saw Costa del Sol out the window. Marlene was ecstatic, having never been to the resort town before.

Tifa became nostalgic, memories of happier times flooding back as she took in the crystal waters and golden sands. She still had the key to the villa on her keyring. Her heart jumped at the thought of finding Cloud in town. It would break her heart to learn that he had moved to the resort town after their discussion in The Forgotten Capital. She knew it wasn't likely that he would be there, but if he left because he didn't love her anymore, what was stopping him from finding someone new?

Reno set the chopper down in a secure area just outside of town, where a team of guards were working to ensure tourists could still visit despite the increase in monster attacks around the world. The Costa police force must have rivaled Junon's, securing the outer perimeter of the town and the beach to keep visitors safe. As Reno stepped out of the cockpit, he felt his stomach drop at the sudden realization that he might run into Maur while in town. He didn't think the Turk would turn in his superior officer for an obviously unofficial use of company property, but he might get the wrong idea about Reno's relationship with Tifa and blab to his coworkers. Maur always was an awkward romantic.

Still, Reno walked around the helicopter with a smug grin on his face, quite proud of himself for the extra step he had taken to ensure Marlene's happiness and the points that would score him with Tifa. He helped the girls with their bags – perfect gentleman – and led them into town like he was their personal chauffeur or something. The beach was surprisingly crowded thanks to the Costa Tourism Board's campaign to attract travelers by emphasizing the increased security. Costa del Sol was still the lovable little resort town it had always been, but the AVALANCHE members now noticed there was a large police presence in the street and especially around the beach.

"Those Midgar beaches are no good, yo," Reno said as they made their way toward the oceanfront. "We'd be fighting monsters all day. At least here the police keep them at bay."

As he spoke, Barret could hear the distant sounds of gunfire and metal meeting flesh, a small price to pay, he assumed, for those wealthy enough to travel at this time to enjoy a little sun.

They managed to find a space on the beach and set down some towels. Tifa was dying to go see the villa, but Marlene was already running to the water.

"Marlene, wait!" Tifa called as she chased after the little girl.

That left Barret and Reno alone on the beach.

"What's your angle?" Barret asked, accusatorially, though he didn't take his eyes off Marlene.

"No angle," Reno said casually. "I wanted to take the chopper out and figured I could make your girl happy."

"My girl?" Barret asked, his eyes narrowing as he whipped his head toward the Turk.

"Your daughter."

"Right," Barret was now suspicious in a different way. "Just how often do you come to the bar?"

"A few times a week, it's Rude's favorite place," Reno said while watching Tifa try to keep Marlene from wading into the ocean.

Reno had noticed Tifa's stitches had nearly dissolved, which must have been thanks to Cure spells repairing the surface wound. She wasn't completely healed though, and he knew she was smart enough not to go into the filthy ocean without closing the wound first.

"Uh huh," Barret said. It was all starting to make sense, but he figured he'd let it go for now.

Tifa returned with Marlene, practically dragging the little girl back to their towels. She already looked a little winded from trying to herd the girl.

"She _really_ wants to go swimming," Tifa said to Barret upon their return.

"Can you take her? I guess we'll be here for a while, might as well go buy some trunks," Barret said, eyeing the shops behind the beach.

"You mean you didn't pack your sailor suit?" Tifa teased.

If anyone other than Tifa had just made that comment, Barret probably would have murdered them on the spot. He prayed Reno hadn't heard, though the redhead didn't seem to be paying much attention. Barret stormed off toward the town as Tifa began to remove her outer clothing.

"Now _this_ is what I came here to see," Reno smirked as Tifa began to remove her crop top, folded it, and placed it in her beach bag. When that was done, she quickly put her hat and sunglasses back on.

Reno's expression dropped when she had fully removed the shirt only to reveal a red bikini top that covered as much of her chest as her usual tank top. Reno had expected – dreamed of, rather – a tiny string bikini that barely covered her breasts.

"Behave," Tifa warned, motioning toward Marlene.

"What did you come here to see?" Marlene asked, prompting Tifa to give Reno a look.

"The ocean, sweetheart," Reno cooed. "The ocean."

Tifa removed her shorts and placed them in her bag as well, completely aware of Reno's constant gaze. At least her bikini bottoms revealed more than her usual skirt.

She rolled her eyes. Yup, he used Marlene to get a day with her. Not like she was making it difficult for him, what with allowing Marlene to choose the beach as their destination.

"What's with the hat?" Reno asked once Tifa had finished removing her cover up. Tifa leaned close to him to whisper.

"It was for the sun but since we're here I'm going to use it for the paparazzi. They're getting bad again and I don't want to risk more articles," she said as quietly as possible.

Reno cocked an eyebrow at her admission and realized it might have been a mistake to come to the resort town.

Marlene kept looking at the ocean, forcing herself to stay near Tifa while the older woman sighed and hesitated.

"Hey, Reno, do you have your Restore materia by chance?" Tifa asked the redhead.

"Yup. Need to finish closing the wound?"

"If you don't mind."

Reno pulled out his mag rod and cast Cura just to be sure the wound completely closed. There was still a scar, but to the untrained eye it might look like an old injury instead of one that required her to stay in the hospital the past week.

Marlene watched Tifa get healed and couldn't help but remember the other night. Now she was sure she had heard a Cure spell in Tifa's room as she was returning with a fresh glass of water, but she had just seen Tifa's Restore materia in the first-aid box downstairs where she retrieved the potion earlier in the day. Thankfully, for Tifa, Marlene was too young to put it all together.

"Ready to go swimming, Marlene?" Tifa asked the little girl, who nodded eagerly.

Reno certainly enjoyed watching Tifa walk away. He rolled up his sleeves and leaned back on his towel, just imagining all the vile things he'd love to do to that woman. He watched as Tifa held Marlene's hand until the water was up to the little girl's waist, and then kneeled down in the ocean to teach her the basics of swimming. Tifa would make an excellent mother someday, he thought, uh, for some other guy who was certainly not him because all he wanted from her was sex. Definitely. One hundred percent. Just sticking to the plan.

He watched as this gorgeous, nurturing woman coaxed the little girl onto her stomach while keeping her own hands underneath the child just to get her used to floating in the water. He could watch her all day.

"You ain't swimming?" came a husky voice that brought him out of his thoughts.

"Nah, never learned," Reno told Barret, without taking his eyes off Tifa.

"Really?" Barret asked, sitting down on the towel furthest from Reno, now wearing some black cargo swim trunks. Why did they have pockets? Who knew, but there they were.

"Yep, grew up in the slums," Reno informed him. "No water, and even if there was, you wouldn't wanna swim in it."

"Gonna ask her to teach ya?" Barret said with a half-smirk.

"Hmm?" Reno was only half paying attention to his former adversary, who he still wasn't too keen on.

Barret just chuckled to himself and watched Marlene splashing about in the shallow water. Tifa looked back at him and smiled, then turned Marlene around so she could wave.

"She's an amazing woman, ya know," Barret said in a warning tone. He didn't want to start anything with Reno right now but wanted to give him the "don't you dare touch her" talk, even if he didn't believe Tifa would ever allow the Turk near her in the first place.

Reno didn't answer. Oh, he heard Barret alright, but wasn't about to let the big man think he was right. Because he wasn't.

"Well, enjoy your view," Barret said mockingly as he stood up and strolled down to the beach to join Tifa and Marlene.

Tifa let Barret take over teaching Marlene how to swim and laughed at the image of such a large man being so delicate with such a small girl. Tifa stood up and took a few steps back from them in the water, just to make sure Barret had things under control, then headed back to her towel to get some sun.

She sat down gently, trying not to squish her wound. Even with that final Cura spell, the thing still hurt. The salt water _definitely_ didn't make it feel any better, but she didn't want to say no to Marlene or be alone with Reno right off the bat. She didn't want Barret to get the wrong idea.

Tifa took off her hat and sunglasses since everyone around them seemed to be simply enjoying the beach. She bent her knees but leaned back on her elbows, squinting at Reno in the glare of the sun that was shining just behind his head, making his bright red hair look like it was on fire.

"Not going to swim today?" she asked. Reno didn't want to admit to her that he couldn't.

"Nope, today I am just a humble chauffeur," he said, pretending to tip a hat toward her.

"Too bad, I was hoping to get some time to just lie in the sun by myself."

"Well, you know I can be quiet," Reno said, that roguish grin forming on his face. "Besides, I can't wait to see you with tan lines."

Tifa swatted him with the back of her hand and sat up to start applying sunscreen. She had gotten sunburned in Costa del Sol last year and did not want to experience that again. Her only consolation was that Cloud had gotten burned as well, so they suffered together and spent the next couple days regularly applying aloe to each other. It _would_ have been hot if they hadn't been in so much agony.

_Flashback…_

"Morning, lobster," Cloud said to her one morning when they were both at their reddest.

"Mmm morning firetruck," she responded, in a voice that otherwise would have turned him on if the very thought of moving didn't cause him so much torture.

"Moogle nose."

"Ruby Weapon."

"Hedgehog pie."

"Reno's hair."

"Hey," Cloud said, "let's not say things we can't take back."

"I'd laugh but my face hurts."

_Present Day…_

"Want some help?" Reno looked positively devilish.

"I'm good, thanks," Tifa waved him off and smiled wryly. "Remember, I'm very flexible."

She put some sunscreen in her hands and reached behind her to apply it to her own shoulder blades, then applied a little more and reached her hands back lower to apply it to the area around her bikini top strap. It tugged her wound, but she wasn't about to give Reno the chance to touch her when Barret could see.

"Impressive," Reno said with a nod of his head and a short golf clap. "Now how far back can you stretch your legs?"

Tifa chuckled and shook her head before lying back down on her towel and stretching out her legs.

"You're really going to sit here all day in the sun like this?" she asked the redhead.

"Do you need silence to get a tan?"

Tifa snickered.

"You can use my sunscreen if you want," she said, handing him the bottle. She closed her eyes and settled in.

"Thanks, but I may need help with my back, yo," Reno said, deciding that it was too hot to wear a dress shirt even with the sleeves rolled up. He started to unbutton the shirt before applying lotion to his arms and front.

"You're saying you're not very flexible?" Tifa teased.

"Oh, I'll show you how flexible I am…"

"Tifa! Watch me!" Marlene called from the ocean.

Tifa sat up gently to see that Marlene was now paddling in the shallow water toward Barret, who kept moving backward while crouched down to get her to swim a little further.

"You're doing great, sweetie!" Tifa called to the girl, before lying back on her mat and hoping Reno had lost his train of thought.

"So, about my back…"

Of course.

"Fine, but only because I know how painful it is to be sunburnt," Tifa said, getting to her knees and squeezing some sunscreen onto her hands. She then rubbed them together and started massaging it onto Reno's muscular back. He was paler than Cloud, and thinner, but he was clearly fit with lean muscles in all the right places.

She hadn't touched a man like this since she rubbed aloe onto Cloud's back after their little getaway in Costa del Sol last year. The bar was under construction, so they spent a week in the resort town just enjoying each other's company and basking in the sun. It was one of her most perfect memories with Cloud. They both laughed and loved and didn't seem to notice there was anyone in the world but each other. She would give anything to have those days back…

"Having fun back there?" Reno asked after he realized Tifa was taking too long.

She shook her head and finished applying sunscreen to the small of his back.

"Sorry," she said, embarrassed.

"I already know how you find me distracting," Reno said, smiling.

"You and your ego!" Tifa rolled her eyes before lying back down on the towel and closing her eyes.

She thought about the villa, and whether Cloud had stayed there recently or if he was there right now. She wanted to investigate but didn't want to appear hopelessly devoted after what he said in The Forgotten Capital. If he _were_ there now, however, he could come out at any moment and catch her out of context with Reno.

"Reno?" she asked after a few minutes of silence had passed.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry, babe."

"Did you get me those flowers?"

"How could I? I was working all day and visiting you in the hospital – or out drinking with Rude."

"Reno?"

"Nuh uh, lady, you ain't gettin' nothin' outta me," Reno smirked. "I'm trained to withstand all sorts of interrogation techniques."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"What about this one?" she said softly, causing him to look in her direction only to find her looking up at him with the sweetest, most pathetic puppy-dog eyes he had ever seen on a person.

"Uh… nope, not gonna work."

She pouted her lips and somehow managed to look even more pitiful. Reno turned away from her and lifted his chin in an exaggerated protest maneuver but turned his head to look over his shoulder at her with one eye opened. Tifa started quivering her lower lip and acting as if she were about to cry. She knew he was struggling.

"…still nothing."

Tifa let out a soft whimper.

"No way," Reno was more defiant now. "Well, there might be _some_ way you could convince me to tell the truth," he said with a grin.

"You're terrible!" she retorted, smacking him with the back of her hand.

"Yanno, we've never had this much time together, just the two of us," he offered, seeming a little nostalgic.

"Well, that's usually because you sneak up on me and can't keep your hands to yourself!"

"So, you're saying you wouldn't mind spending time with me like this?"

He had her now. She'd walked into a trap he hadn't even planned to set.

"You ain't gettin' nothin' outta me," she said, mimicking him.

"Sounds like a yes if I ever heard one."

Tifa sat up as quickly as she could with her still-sore wound.

"So, you _did_ get me those flowers!" she was already sure it was him, but this was basically confirmation. And she was still surprised. It was _Reno_ after all. "How'd you do it? _Why'd_ you do it?"

"I was in the Nibelheim neighborhood…" he said calmly.

"Bullshit."

"Hey, _language_ there, little lady."

"So, Reno really does have a soft side," Tifa laid back down and brought her hands up behind her head in triumph.

"Huh? No way!" he quickly tried to correct. "I'm hard, baby, ain't nothin' soft about me."

"Yeah, okay," Tifa said sarcastically. "Your secret's safe with me."

Barret and Marlene returned, with the little girl excitedly telling Tifa about how she was just swimming,

"I saw," Tifa said in mock excitement to encourage Marlene. "You were doing great out there."

"Yeah but it's really tiring," Marlene said, plopping down on her towel.

She'd be back up and playing in five minutes, tops, Tifa bet herself.

"Hey Barret, I'm gonna go check out the villa, will you be okay here for a minute?" Tifa asked.

"Sure," he said. "Take your time."

Tifa stood up and put her hat and sunglasses back on. As far as she knew, no one had been to the villa since she and Cloud visited the previous year. She grabbed the key out of her bag and made her way to the house AVALANCHE had purchased while chasing Sephiroth.

It had been a whim, one of those unpredictable, sort of romantic kind of moments with Cloud. She and Yuffie had been with him when they returned to Costa del Sol before heading back to the Northern Crater for their final confrontation. They had known long before that the place was for sale following President Shinra's death, but hadn't expected it to still be on the market so much later. They had just sold their first mastered "Magnify" materia, and Cloud suddenly wanted to go on a spending spree. Tifa supposed it was because he never had much money growing up.

_Flashback…_

Cloud and the two remaining AVALANCHE women burst into the villa without considering whether it might now be someone's home. Tifa and Yuffie had actually been giggling about Cloud's claim that he was going to buy the place and name it "Villa Cloud."

"Sure you are," Tifa had teased when he made the suggestion. He may have been feeling better after Tifa helped him find his conscious in the Lifestream, but he still didn't seem to be the type of person who would buy a beachfront home on a whim.

Cloud's swagger as he entered the building shocked the realtor, who was again napping on the bed when they entered. He leapt up and looked the three over and somehow (must have been some kind of realtor sense) that they could afford the place.

"'Praise the Lord,'" he said. "It's a miracle! Who'd ever think someone with some real money would ever come here… I probably shouldn't even ask, but are you really going to buy it?"

Cloud looked back at Tifa, who was trying to stifle a laugh. He hadn't shared his feelings with her yet, but he had rediscovered his love for her. He wouldn't admit this until much later, but he had bought this place for her.

"Yep, 300,000 gil," Cloud said.

He handed the realtor the money in an unmarked sack, feeling a suitcase would have been too seedy and cliché, though he had briefly toyed with the idea until Yuffie asked if he was trying to look like a "mobster."

Cloud turned back to Tifa after signing the necessary paperwork. She was still not believing the purchase was complete, even though she witnessed the whole thing.

"Oh my GAWD, he bought you a house!" Yuffie enthused before running into the bedroom to jump on one of the mattresses.

Tifa blushed. She liked when Yuffie – or anyone else, for that matter – hinted to her that Cloud was in love with her, but she didn't really believe it at the time. She certainly _hoped_ they knew something she didn't, but she didn't find it likely.

Cloud scratched the back of his head and approached Tifa while Yuffie was in the other room.

"Why don't you, uh, hold on to this key," he asked. "Just wanna keep it safe in case Sephiroth wants to take control of me again. We can make another key later."

Tifa beamed. Maybe Yuffie had been right. Either way, _she_ now had the keys to her very own Costa del Sol villa that she could visit whenever she wanted.

_Present day…_

Tifa moved through the town quickly, keeping her head down but occasionally looking around for anyone who may be a member of the press. Her face was covered and her long hair was secured under her hat in a messy bun, but someone could be watching the villa. It was known that Cloud Strife had purchased it and that he and Tifa had spent a vacation there last year – it made the tabloids, as did pictures of them on the beach together. She took one last look around her before approaching the villa.

She reached the door and froze. He could be here. He could be here. He could be here and hiding from her and chasing skirts on the beach and break her heart all over again. Maybe she didn't want to find out what was inside.

But she had to.

She placed a trembling hand on the wood and lowered her head, taking a deep breath. She'd made it this far; there was no turning back. She inched forward and rested her forehead against the door, listening intently for any sounds – hushed voices, rustling, a dropped dish, anything. Hearing none, she knocked gently and waited patiently for some indication of life inside.

Nothing.

She knocked again, with a little more force, but still heard nothing.

Taking another deep breath, she placed the key in the lock and turned slowly. Inside she could find all her answers. With her heart heavy, heartbeat racing, she opened the door and called his name. No answer. She flipped on the nearby light switch.

Nothing.

The villa hadn't been touched in some time. The sun shone through the large lattice window to the left of the entrance, reflecting its shape on the floor in front of the folding screen. In the light, Tifa could see dust particles dancing and floating, only visible where the sun cast its gaze. She looked around and started moving forward, noticing a film of undisturbed dust covering everything like some protective layer to preserve her memories.

The bedroom door was open and she could already tell it was empty, but she entered anyway, running her finger tips over the top of the dresser and allowing the trails to serve as a marker that she was here. Nothing had been disturbed for quite some time. Even if Cloud had come here after he left Edge, he was long gone. There was no way he could have been here after their talk in The Forgotten Capital.

Tifa walked around to the far end of the bed nearest the back wall and sat down to process what she had just discovered – or not discovered.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa would be alone, in a _villa_, in a _resort town_, with a _bed_. Reno considered his various excuse options to get away from Barret and Marlene, who were now building a sandcastle near their towels, and make his way to Tifa. He shot each one down as being too lame or obvious. Barret already seemed suspicious. What would he think if Reno left the beach shortly after Tifa? Would he think they were having secret romantic getaways? Or that Reno was up to no good? Probably the latter, and the redheaded Turk did not want to cause a ruckus today. Today was all about getting Tifa to think his intentions were above board.

Oh, but there was one way to get away from the eco-terrorist and his daughter.

Reno took out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and brought his lighter up to the tip.

"Hey!" Barret growled. "You can't smoke on the beach!"

"I thought anything goes in Costa del Sol," Reno mused.

"Take it somewhere else!" Barret commanded.

Reno shrugged and stood up to walk off the sand and back toward town, with some uppity beachgoers complaining about the smoke as he did.

Mission accomplished.

Reno knew from experience that sandcastles took infinitely less time to destroy than to build. If Barret and the little girl were going to make something photo worthy, they would be occupied for a while – and Marlene had demanded many accoutrements.

Reno finished his cigarette by the time he reached the villa door. He hadn't had to watch where Tifa went, _everyone_ knew about the Shinra villa. Or, he guessed, it was now the AVALANCHE villa. Ugh.

He considered for a brief moment what would happen if that Cloud guy _was_ in the villa. Tifa might go running into his arms, but if he were here, it meant the bastard really did skip out on her. That could certainly open a door for Reno, but he didn't really want to win his prize by being the rebound guy. That was too easy. He also at that point considered how much Tifa would be hurt if she did turn to a Turk only to get immediately crushed again. That's right, he considered her _feelings_. He shuddered before placing his hand on the door handle and turning.

He had to admit, the place was choice. Decently sized for Costa del Sol, but big enough for a couple people to spend a vacation or live, if they really wanted to. He didn't spend too much time looking around before he noticed Tifa through the bedroom doorway. She was sitting solemnly on the far bed facing the wall, her back to him. The heavy smell of the beachfront mixed with sunscreen filled his nostrils, with just a ghostly reminder of the floral scent of Tifa's hair. She didn't seem to flinch when he entered, as if she either knew who was coming in (and didn't care) or hadn't even heard the door.

As he walked toward her, he could see that she was fidgeting with her hands in her lap and though he suspected she was upset, he didn't see her shoulders rising and falling with the telltale signs of crying.

A perfect opportunity.

He quietly rounded the bed and sat next to her. She let out the soft laugh of someone who was trying to force back tears. Reno knew by now that it would be okay to put an arm around her shoulders, so he did so. She rewarded him by leaning her head against him.

"He's not here," she said, almost to herself.

Reno didn't have to ask who "he" was but knew he had to suck it up to move her along.

"I'm sorry," he said, and he sounded sincere. He could act when he needed to.

"I'm happy," she said.

Now Reno was confused, by all outward appearances she was trying not to cry after seeing someone run over her puppy.

"You don't look happy," he said.

There was that little laugh again.

"I know," she said. "I'm sad because of what happened, but I'm happy that he's not here."

"Why does that make you happy?" he had to ask.

"Because it means he didn't ditch me to chase loose women on the beach," she said with a snicker to cheer herself up.

"Hey now," Reno said. "Let's not go knocking the chasing of loose women on the beach."

She guffawed at his comment, not meaning to sound so unladylike.

"I guess I kind of hoped I'd find him here though," she said after a brief silence. "I think it would be easier if I could just hate him."

"You need advice on how to hate Strife?" Reno's eyes lit up and he removed his arm from Tifa's shoulders. "Well, you came to the right place. First, find a doll that looks like him – and then choke it _real hard_." He mimicked choking something as he spoke.

Tifa chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder to stop his dramatic recreation.

"I don't actually want to hate him," she said.

She turned to look at the wall again and Reno relaxed, leaning back on his hands while waiting for her to speak.

"Sometimes I just feel so alone," she said, returning to her pensive state.

Reno didn't accept that one bit. He pushed himself back into a sitting position and grabbed each of her upper arms, turning her to face him. She kept her head lowered, so he took his index finger and hooked it under her chin to gently lift her head until she was looking into his eyes, which were wide and earnest. It reminded her of how Cloud did the same thing when they confessed their love for each other under the Highwind.

"Hey, don't you say that, yo," Reno began. "If there is one thing in this whole world you ain't, Lockhart, it's alone."

His words comforted her a little, even if they were clumsy. She smiled at him, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"You got Barret and his little girl, all your other terrorist friends (he couldn't help himself), and uh, the Turks now," he added.

Tifa blinked. "Thank you," she said as her eyes offered a hint of acceptance.

Reno wasn't sure if he should keep going. He still wasn't used to this, even if he had comforted her before. He'd been there for distraught Turks before – mainly Elena – but that was different. Usually he would just tell her to buck up and get back to work but he knew he couldn't take that tactic with Tifa. Instead, he reached forward and gently wrapped his arms around her. She leaned toward him and rested her head on his chest with her arms around his waist.

Damn it felt good to hold her.

Her chest was pressed against his, with just a thin piece of bathing suit material between them. Reno kept quiet but tried to think how he could move from this position to one more favorable. He scrunched his eyes to remove the thought. He had to be a gentleman here. But his hands were so close to the knot on her bikini…

"Reno?" she asked, as if she were about to scold him. _Could she read his mind?_

"Yes, babe?"

"Why did you bring us here?"

"Marlene said the beach, so she got the beach."

"No, I mean, why did you offer her the helicopter ride?"

Reno pulled away from her and scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, well, I hadn't been in the chopper for a while, and" he stammered, "it's actually my favorite thing in the world…"

"Really?" she asked in equal parts innocence and surprise. "Even more than booze and loose women?"

Now this was a more comfortable conversation for him.

"It's actually a pretty big gap," he told her. "That chopper is my _baby_, booze and cheap women don't hold a candle to _her_."

"Really? I never would have guessed."

"Yeah, well, there's still a lot you don't know about me," he said, suddenly noticing how close her face was to his own.

"Oh yeah?" she said, her voice breathy though she didn't intend it to be.

"Yeah."

"Like those dancing skills you seem so proud of?"

"That, and other things…" he trailed off.

Their eyes met and he noticed the sadness in hers had been replaced with mirth; ruby orbs wide and quivering while studying his expression. He wanted to kiss her, but knew how vulnerable she was at this moment. She could push him away or easily regret it, or she could let him kiss her just because she was missing Strife. But her lips looked _so_ inviting.

Their faces inched closer until he couldn't take it any longer and went in to claim her lips, placing a hand behind her head to lock her close. She reciprocated, leaning forward so that he could wrap his other arm around her back and pull her against him. He held her tighter than he had at the Shinra mansion or in her bar. Back then, he was just trying to comfort her; this time, he was playing for keeps.

If she was at the point where she wished she could hate Cloud, he reasoned, she was at the point where she wanted to move on. And he wasn't wrong. Cloud was always going to be a part of her life, whether he was physically here or not. Reno had to accept that he couldn't undo their relationship, but he could move her forward – and she appeared ready.

He deepened the kiss as she reached up to place one hand on the smooth skin of his neck, underneath his ponytail, and the other just above his hairline, winding her fingers through his crimson locks. He moaned into her mouth as she tugged gently at his roots, before slipping his tongue between her lips.

Reno wasn't sure whether he lowered her or whether she pulled him down, but she slowly ended up on her back on the bed, her legs still hanging off the edge as she had been sitting. Reno ensured no daylight passed between them as she laid back, enjoying the feel of her breasts rubbing against his bare chest. She bit his lower lip and he purred.

He wanted her. Gods did he want her. He wanted every inch of her, and his body was getting dangerously close to proving that to her. All that lay between them was his pants and the thin material of her bikini. The fact did not escape his mind, even if he knew this was not the time to fulfill that dream.

He let one of his hands leave her cheek where it had rested and brush along her shoulder and down her arm until he reached her waist near her new scar. With a return nip to her lower lip, he released her tongue and trailed kisses to her earlobe, lingering there for a moment as he nibbled. She melted into him, moaning softly as he lightly kissed his way to her neck before taking a bit of her delicate skin between his teeth. She cooed and her nails dug into his tresses, pleasantly scratching his scalp.

He couldn't believe she was allowing this and he kept preparing himself for her to push him off and start yelling. Tifa Lockhart couldn't possibly be allowing Reno of the Turks to suck on her neck or even be alone with her on a bed in a beach villa. He half expected to wake up from another dream, cold and alone in his large, empty bed.

But no dream could compare to the soft flesh beneath his fingertips or the heat emanating from her body. His head told him not to push his luck, his heart told him to stay as he was, but some other part of him told him to keep going. The hand at her waist began to slide upward along her ribcage, his fingers tapping against her gently as they crawled forward.

He reached the underside of her breast and dared himself to go for it. With any other woman he wouldn't have hesitated for a second, but Tifa was not like any other woman, and he was pretty sure he had somehow sold his soul just to get this far with her. Well, if he ever had a soul, that is.

One finger reached out to lightly poke her breast to test the waters. When no scold came, he slipped his palm up and over her breast before giving it a squeeze. She moaned in approval and he thought he could have a heart attack.

Two years ago he tried to murder this woman from a helicopter. She returned the gesture by viciously beating him to a pulp – and it turned him on. Now he had her tit in his hand as she writhed beneath him. When had his luck turned?

His thumb teased her nipple through her bikini as his lips returned to hers. Emboldened, she trapped his tongue between her teeth and sucked on it. He nearly came undone right then and there, his eyes rolling back into his head as a moan escaped him. He tried to say "fuck," but it was muffled.

The hand on her breast lowered once again to the edge of her bikini. He pressed into her skin gently to get the tip of his fingers underneath the material and began to move forward once again.

This proved to be the line, as Tifa moaned in such a way to let him know he had gone too far. She sat up, forcing him to sit back off of her on the bed. She did not push him, and she did not look angry. Far from it; she looked embarrassed. Not the kind of embarrassed he would have expected, like she had realized who she was letting touch her and suddenly couldn't believe herself, but the kind of embarrassed one would see from someone who was self-conscious.

Reno couldn't imagine what in the world Tifa Lockhart would have to be self-conscious about, especially in her chest area. He'd felt them; they were real. Why was over the bikini okay but underneath was the end?

"Did I go too far?" he asked, equal parts concerned and frustrated.

"No…" she looked at her lap, avoiding eye contact. "It's not your fault, but we should get back before Barret gets suspicious."

"You worried he'll think you're off screwin' around with the enemy?" he chuckled, testing to see how badly he had screwed up.

"No!" she insisted. "Well, maybe."

"Let him think! It'll do the big lunkhead some good."

"Reno…"

"Hey, you know what will cheer you up? Let's go play some of those boardwalk games. I'm a champion ring tosser."

"Oh, really?" Tifa asked skeptically, the weight of their previous actions seemingly lifted.

"Yep, woulda gone pro but sprained my thumb before tryouts."

Tifa loved how easy it was for Reno to make her laugh even when she was feeling blue. And truth be told, she loved carnival games but didn't get to partake very often. It'd be fun to do something other than work and fight monsters for a change.

"Okay, show me your skills," she challenged.

"You're on, Lockhart."

Reno offered her a hand to help her to her feet and she accepted.

"After you, my dear," he motioned for her to take the narrow space between the bed and the wall out of the bedroom. He watched her ass as she walked toward the front door and had to run to catch up to her once she reached it, lest she discover his lechery.

She put her hat and sunglasses back on before opening the door just a little to peer out and check for any prying eyes. There weren't many people in the town as they were mostly on the beach, so she stepped out and waited for Reno before locking up.

The Turk hadn't _totally_ lied about his ring tossing skills, as evidenced by the large plush chocobo Tifa carried back to their area on the beach.

"Where you two been?" Barret said with narrowed eyes.

Tifa hoped her flushed cheeks weren't noticeable.

"Cloud wasn't in the villa so I left," she said. It was the truth, just not the whole truth. "Found Reno playing carnival games. Here Marlene, he won this for you."

Reno counted the lies and omissions in her statement. He was definitely corrupting her already.

Marlene took the chocobo excitedly and hugged it to her chest, then took Tifa by the hand and dragged her toward the sandcastle she had built with Barret.

"Do you see my sandcastle? Daddy helped me build it," she said.

"That's beautiful, sweetheart," Tifa again used that mock-excited tone. "Fit for a princess."

"Daddy, I want to go swimming again!" Marlene demanded.

"Okay, but this is the last time today," Barret compromised.

He took the little girl by the hand and gave one last look over Reno and Tifa. His eyes lingered on a mark on Tifa's neck that hadn't been there before. He wanted to say something, rather, he wanted to grab Tifa by the shoulders and yell at her that she was crazy, that whatever was going on here was a horrible idea. It was one thing for Reno to have a crush on Tifa, it was quite another for Tifa to actually accept the Turk.

Cloud must have seriously broken her. Tifa was way too smart and strong to be slumming like this. Just what the hell was she thinking?

He opened his mouth to speak but felt Marlene begin to tug his hand a bit harder. He'd have to talk to Tifa later.

When they were gone, Tifa again removed her hat and sunglasses before laying down on her towel with her chest to the ground in order to tan her back.

"So, when you do that, do you have to make divots in the ground for your tits?" Reno asked.

Though he was clearly messing with her, he did kind of want to know. Those things had to be painful in some situations, right?

"You're pushing it today, Reno," was all she said, though she didn't sound mad.

"Okay, okay, last question: do you undo the strings to your top when you tan?"

"I might if lecherous Turks weren't around," she said, without looking at him.

She must truly be able to read his mind.

Barret and Marlene returned about 20 minutes later to rest. Within the hour, the group was ready to call it a day.

Reno flew them back with Marlene insisting on sitting in the co-pilot's seat. She had decided she wanted to learn how to fly the helicopter, so Reno was giving her a very basic tutorial. Barret, of course, was watching from the main seating area horrified, convinced that Turk bastard would hand over the controls to a six-year-old without thinking.

But Reno did not hand over the controls, and set the chopper down outside Edge just where he had picked them up. He turned off the engine to help Marlene out to rejoin her father. The whirl of the engine and the dust kicked up by the vehicle was at least useful enough to scare away some of the monsters that were patrolling the area, even if it did mean choking back dirt. Reno waved farewell after informing them he would spend the rest of the day cleaning out the sand and sea water they had all left behind in _his baby_.

Tifa rolled her eyes when he said it and turned to walk back to the ladder onto the Edge rooftops with Barret and Marlene.

They had just gotten inside Seventh Heaven when the expected text from Reno came.

"Had fun today, yo," it said, "even if it didn't involve booze or sex."

Tifa giggled to herself and shook her head. She helped Marlene draw a bath and get ready before deciding that she would actually respond to Reno.

"But you had your favorite thing. The helicopter," she replied.

"What's going on with you two?" Barret said in an accusatory tone. She had been standing in the kitchen when she sent the text and he had just entered.

He and Marlene were going to make the long journey back to Corel in the morning. Barret had a fortified truck he called "The Tank," that could withstand monster attacks, but it wasn't foolproof. The sunroof allowed him to fire at weaker monsters or toss grenades at stronger ones before speeding away.

"What are you talking about?" Tifa asked, setting her PHS on the counter behind her and turning to face Barret.

"You know DAMN well what I'm talking about!" the former leader of AVALANCHE raised his voice, pounding his fist on the kitchen island. Tifa crossed her arms over her chest and remained defiant. "What's that on your neck?" Barret asked accusatorially.

Tifa had noticed the beginning signs of a hickey as soon as they got back to Seventh Heaven. She had been mortified and let her hair down over her shoulders to try and cover it. She knew Barret must have seen it. Hell, the whole _world_ must have seen it. She could only pray he wouldn't say anything. Apparently, the Gods were not listening today – to her at least.

"It's nothing," she said like when she was a teenager and Marle would ask her about the bruises she had gotten from fighting doomrats and gorgers with the Neighborhood Watch.

"What is going on Tifa? Talk to me," Barret's tone shifted. He wasn't going to get anywhere by yelling at her and whatever was going on seemed like a cry for help. "Is this because of Cloud?"

Tifa shot him a look that could have melted the skin off a bomb.

"Cloud is _gone_, Barret. He left me six months ago," the anger in her voice surprised even her.

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and threatened to spill, but she held them back with defiant resolve.

"What happened?" Barret asked, keeping his softer tone.

"He left, and I thought it was just because his headaches came back and he was having nightmares, but he said it wasn't just that…" she let her arms fall to her sides and she clenched her fists so tightly they shook, her fingernails carving half-moon shapes into her palms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I didn't want anyone to know. I told Vincent and Yuffie. I'm pretty sure Cid knows, but please don't tell anyone else."

"I won't, but Tifa," Barret stepped forward to reach a cautious hand toward her shoulder, "you'll talk to me if somethin's wrong, right?"

Tifa nodded her head but said nothing.

"Is something wrong now?" Barret pressed.

"No!" Tifa insisted. "Barret, I'm not a teenager anymore, I can take care of myself."

Of course, there was no way she could have said the words without _sounding_ like a teenager.

"I trust you, Tifa, but I don't trust _him_."

"Even after today?"

"One day can't make up for Sector 7."

Tifa bit her lower lip. He was right, but it hadn't been just one day for _her_. Reno and the other Turks had been there for her over the past few months.

"I know, but he's trying."

"Tifa…"

"Please, Barret. I don't want to talk about it. Can you promise me you won't tell anyone about this?"

"Tifa…"

"Promise me!"

Barret knew how Tifa felt about promises, so for her to ask him to make one must have meant whatever was happening here was serious. He didn't approve, but he couldn't run her life. He would be there for her when it all fell apart though, and he knew it would. Defeated, he slumped his shoulders and sighed.

"…okay. Just, please be careful, okay? Don't go gettin' reckless just cuz you're hurtin'."

"Barret, I'm fine. I've actually managed to laugh these past few months."

Barret shook his head. He knew he wouldn't convince her tonight, and he was exhausted and filthy from the beach. He'd just have to hope she came to her senses before everything when to shit.

"I believe you," he lied. "I'mma go get cleaned up and say goodnight to Marlene."

Tifa watched him walk down the hall as the bathroom door opened, indicating Marlene was finished with her bath. Tifa thought about what Barret had said for a few seconds until her phone vibrated on the counter next to her. Whatever hesitation had entered her mind was just settling in when she read the next text from Reno.

"I guess one out of three ain't bad. Could have used one of the other two tho."

With her bathroom free, Tifa showered, taking extra time to scrub the sand from her body and getting lost in her newfound indecision. Everything with Reno had felt so right at the villa. For a brief moment, she felt further from her feelings for Cloud and like she could move on. Reno had been the one making her laugh all this time, and even though he clearly didn't understand boundaries, it seemed like he was trying – or maybe Tifa was reading too much into his actions. These thoughts were still swirling in her head once she realized she had gotten all the sand off.

She stepped out of the shower and dressed for bed before cleaning up the sand from her home and bar and throwing everyone's wet and dirty clothes into the laundry. With that done, she took out her phone and caught herself smiling as she reread Reno's last text.

"Okay, next time I'll buy you a drink," she said, knowing it would drive him crazy.

An immediate response.

"YOU'RE NO FUN LOCKHART."


	21. Betrayal

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 10/19/2020: Edits throughout. New scenes between Reno and Tifa as well as Tifa and Barret.**

Chapter 21:

"Reno," the wild-haired Turk heard Tseng say from inside his office.

Again, Tseng's tone conveyed neither anger nor encouragement. Of course, the pit in Reno's stomach had an idea about why Tseng may be calling him into his office. It wasn't like Reno had a clear conscience, but he strolled into Tseng's office as if he did.

"What's up, boss?" he said with a certain level of confidence.

"Have a nice time this weekend?" Tseng asked.

It was a question Tseng had _never_ asked before. He never found it useful to discuss what happened in the private lives of his subordinates, but that didn't mean he didn't _know_ what they did outside of work. Tseng was a careful man, but he was also Rufus' right-hand adviser now that Heidegger and Scarlet were dead. Rufus had never quite cared for Reeve, and the former toy-cat operator was too busy building Edge to be very helpful for Rufus anyway.

Having the leader of the Turks as a right-hand man allowed Rufus to keep tabs on all his employees and any suspicious, anti-Shinra activity in the world, since the organization was spread throughout various key cities. In order to accomplish this, however, Tseng needed to know what all his underlings were up to at any given moment, so unbeknownst to them, he had his own separate sources to keep an eye on whether they were up to anything seedy that might come back to haunt Shinra. He didn't relish this part of his job, but he wanted to get ahead of any issues before Rufus might learn about them, as Tseng was pretty sure the president had his own separate spies beyond the Turks.

No one trusted anyone.

Reno's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"…Yes sir?" he offered, warily.

"Good," Tseng said, lowering his gaze back to his work. "That's all."

Reno blinked a few times before moving, unsure whether he was really just called into his boss' office to be asked about his weekend. Tseng knew something. He was testing Reno. What else could Reno have said? Was his answer satisfactory or did he say something to make Tseng distrust him now?

He turned to leave but was stopped by Tseng's voice when he reached the door.

"Oh, and Reno," Tseng said.

Why did everyone wait until he was at the door to drop the hammer? "Make sure the chopper has enough fuel to fly to Junon tomorrow."

Again, Reno was unsure whether that was a normal command or an indication that Tseng knew about his weekend getaway with Tifa (and the other two). Reno was no fool, he figured Tseng must have known. but Tseng wasn't the type to come out and say anything and he wasn't the type to discipline someone for something so trivial (in Reno's mind). Reno figured this was Tseng's way of warning him to be more careful in the future;, at least that's how the redhead chose to interpret the interaction.

He left Tseng's office and glanced at Rude, who was eyeing him from behind his sunglasses. It would surprise no one to know that Reno couldn't tan, so his appearance at work looking even a little pink let Rude and Elena know something was up. The fair-skinned redhead avoided the sun like, well, Vincent Valentine. Reno knew Rude was starting to suspect things, and he knew he'd have to deal with that at some point, but that was _Future_ Reno's problem. Today he got to spend entirely with his chopper, which was – dare he think it – the next best thing to spending the day with Tifa.

He passed Elena as he walked with exaggerated swagger out the Turks' office to make his way to the helipad on the roof. He had spent Sunday evening thoroughly cleaning the chopper of any sand or saltwater and Tifa's hair. He enjoyed that woman and her long tresses, but goddamn it that hair got _everywhere_. He found some wrapped around one of the levers on the control panel of the chopper. How the hell did that even happen? Tifa was only mildly leaning over the seats for a few seconds. And she had her hair up in a messy bun. _And_ it was under a hat.

But he got it all cleaned up – and refueled on the off chance someone at Shinra was checking the tank every morning. Of course, Tseng may not have known Reno took care of all this yesterday, so the redhead felt he could get away with fiddling around with the helicopter until it was time to go on one last patrol.

He had spent the other week avoiding Tifa for a specific purpose, and he felt he achieved a few points during the Costa del Sol flight, even if he did go too far on the heavy petting. Though she actually texted him back a few times after the trip, something she had never done before. Progress.

Now he was considering telling her about being out of town. It'd be a leap for him, and it was taking a chance – maybe she wouldn't care that he was going out of town for an indefinite amount of time. She hadn't actually given any indication to him that she missed him prior to getting shot.

Shit, what if she didn't?

Eh, that hadn't stopped him from sending her texts before as if he knew about her feelings. Maybe this time he should tell her where he was going to be, especially since he didn't know when he'd be back and the last time he left her alone for a few days she nearly got killed. Still, letting her miss him after another pleasant encounter might just seal his place in her… heart.

Even though he had cleaned the interior of the helicopter the evening before, he still found more evidence of his excursion. He may have been able to pass off Tifa's long ebony hair as Tseng's, but his boss hadn't been in the chopper in a while, and for some reason the Wutaian didn't seem to shed like everyone else Reno knew with long hair. The redhead took his time, since he didn't want to be sitting around doing nothing with the rest of his comrades downstairs.

He was rinsing off the exterior of the helicopter after giving it a thorough outer wash – another one just to be safe – when the other Turks arrived to retrieve him for their patrol.

Knowing this would be his last patrol for a while made the whole episode so much less daunting, though the three were sick of it all by the time they reached Seventh Heaven. Ringmaws, grashtrikes, and even a few blugus gave them a workout, but all fell in the end by the three Turks determined to drink.

They took their usual seats at the bar and quietly sipped their first beverages as they calmed down from their battles and pondered the potential boredom they faced in Junon.

Tifa tried her best to hide flushed cheeks whenever her glance caught Reno's, but the Turk's smirk made her heart race. The physical response contradicted the torture she'd put herself through all day, ever since Barret and Marlene left that morning.

_Flashback…_

"I'm only gonna say this one more time," Barret said with a heavy sigh; neither angry nor demanding. They were standing in the garage next to Seventh Heaven where Barret had parked his truck. He had just closed the passenger-side door to secure Marlene inside when he turned back to Tifa. "Be careful."

"I know, Barrett," Tifa responded, trying not to let her irritation show. Barret was getting ahead of himself. "Thank you for worrying about me."

"Strife _loves_ you, Tifa," Barret's words cut through her heart like a knife, physically painful to hear. Cloud had given no indication of this love for a year and he broke her heart… several times. "His stuff is still here. He's coming back."

Tifa turned her face and clenched her teeth. Her hands balled into fists as she bit back her immediate reaction. Barret was as well-meaning as they came, but his words felt like a slap in the face. Was she supposed to just sit around waiting for Cloud because it was convenient for AVALANCHE? She swallowed her tensions and released her breath.

"He left me, Barret. I'm not going to spend my life waiting for him to come back," she said with measured calm. "We don't know when – or if – that will ever happen."

"I know, I'm sorry, I just meant that…" his voice trailed off. He slumped his shoulders and walked around the truck to the driver's side door, pausing with his hand on the handle. "I just want you to be happy, Tifa."

"I am, Barret," Tifa said with a receptive smile as Barret nodded and entered the vehicle.

He and Marlene waved (Marlene more enthusiastically) as they pulled out of the driveway and turned toward the road that would take them out of Edge.

Tifa let out a heavy sigh when they left, instantly feeling the crushing loneliness that had so often invaded her thoughts over the past year. As obstinate as Barret's words made her feel, she couldn't help tat least considering them. Cloud hadn't moved out; he hadn't taken all his things. And really, he'd only been physically gone six months. That wasn't _that_ long, was it?

But Reno reminded her what it felt like to be wanted, even if she still didn't think he was capable of love. He made her smile when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry, and he kept putting up with her depression over Cloud. Could he really just be doing all this to get into her pants?

_Present day…_

Rude noticed the slightest of smirks cross Tifa's lips once when she caught Reno's gaze. Her skin was no longer so pale, showing a slight tan and pink cheeks that hadn't been there the week before. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, trying not to connect her tan and Reno's own pink hue. His best friend wouldn't do this to him; all those little puzzle pieces he had been putting together over the past few months were just the result of his own insecurities, he continued to tell himself. Besides, Elena hadn't said anything, and she _loved_ to let everyone know what she suspected about people.

Reno acted like any other night: He made small talk, checked out other women in the bar, and complained about sitting around in Junon listening to science talk.

What Rude didn't see was the gears in Reno's head turning, plotting how he could get Tifa alone. Having failed the entire night, the redhead shifted off his barstool along with his colleagues to procure payment for their bar tabs. He opened his wallet and removed enough gil to cover his tab and just a few gil extra for a tip. He moved to return his wallet to his back left pants pocket but casually let the thin, nondescript leather item plop to the ground, the sound muffled by the shuffling of patrons as they made for the exit.

He soon joined Rude and Elena outside as the three climbed the ladder next door to begin their treks home. The rooftop pathways would make it harder for him to slip back to Tifa's, since he couldn't simply hide around a building a block away until Rude and Elena were out of sight. His height and shocking red hair made him stick out in a crowd, so he waited until he was nearly back to his apartment building before slinking back to Seventh Heaven under the auspices of wallet retrieval.

He hopped down from the building next door instead of using the ladder, his feet landing on the sidewalk with a crackle as bits of cement scratched against concrete. He straightened up with a lopsided grin on his face and dusted his hands, strolling to the front door of Seventh Heaven with high expectations.

He quickly found the door locked and the lights turned off.

He assumed Tifa would still be closing up, since he was a fast walker and his building was 10 minutes from the bar. She either left the cleaning for later or finished quickly. He tried not to read too much into the change of pace so soon after their encounter in Costa del Sol, but he figured he would just have to head home.

As he approached the familiar ladder and gripped its lower rungs, however, a delicate sneeze caught his attention. He quickly looked around and found no one, but the sound didn't seem to come from the ground. His eyebrows knitted together and he looked toward the sky over Seventh Heaven. Was it possible?

He released the ladder and padded around the bar to his favorite alley in Edge. He couldn't see her, but he knew she couldn't be asleep already and the lights were off upstairs. He climbed atop the dumpsters with all the silence of a cat burglar and hopped up to the windowsill outside her bedroom. He hung from the wooden beam and hoisted himself up and onto the roof. No mere mortal would have been able to copy his moves.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa leaned against the parapet and closed her eyes, her face turned up toward the stars. Too much light pollution kept her from seeing what she wanted tonight, but if she closed her eyes she could imagine the swirl of galaxies in Nibelheim. Clarity had not found her when she heard the scuffing of boots on the roof next to her, knowing instantly to whom they belonged.

"Still relying on Turk instincts?" she asked calmly, remaining as she had been before he scrambled up the side of her building. The picture of relaxed.

"You're lucky I'm not the enemy anymore, or you'd have a big problem on your hands right about now," he teased.

Tifa opened her eyes to find not the stars sparkling high above her but the grin of a redheaded Turk. He stood next to her, bending at the waist to hover his head over hers as he smiled at her with roguish charm.

"You think you were so quiet climbing up here? Please," she said, a smile flashing across her lips. "If you were really a threat I would have taken you out as soon as you touched the dumpsters."

"Babe, you coulda been a Turk if ya hadn't gone all eco-terrorist."

Tifa gave him a knowing glance for his comment.

"Come back for this?" she asked, suddenly producing his wallet from the pocket of her skirt and holding it up between two fingers just above her chest. "You should be more careful where you leave your personal belongings."

"Did ya look through it?" he asked, snatching the item from her grasp and sitting down next to her. He folded one knee and rested his elbow on it while extending the other one out alongside hers, skimming the material of her thigh-highs.

"Of course," she responded matter-of-factly.

"And?"

Tifa sat up straighter. "A few gil, your business card, and a receipt for a Sniper CR."

"Exactly," Reno said, smugly, though he was surprised she hadn't taken the extra gil to make up for the weak tip he left.

"A decoy?"

"My real Shinra badge is clipped to me and I only carry enough cash to cover a bar tab."

"And the receipt?"

"Lets the person who found it know who they're messing with."

"I did think it was a little light for a Turk wallet," Tifa said, looking back up at the only star she could see.

"Lost my real one once back when I was a rookie," Reno confessed. "Had an entire paycheck and an old fake I.D. in it. Punk thought he could take on the Red Li—" he cut himself off.

"The Red what?"

"Heh, nothin'. So, have fun yesterday?"

"You know... I did," Tifa said as if she were surprised by the admission. She would shelve his little backstory tidbit in the back of her mind, for now.

"Good," Reno said as he moved a hand to her chin and directed her face toward his.

He leaned forward to kiss her; not aggressively, but far from tender. Tifa assumed this style of his was learned over years of kissing women ahead of sex. And it certainly worked.

She was instantly caught up in his charms, crashing into him like a lovesick teenager being kissed for the first time. Her hands found his neck as they had the day before and she tugged at his ponytail. He growled suggestively and bit her lower lip before thrusting his tongue into her awaiting mouth.

She felt her inhibitions lower with each flick of his tongue, and she had to keep reminding herself that she was _not_ one of the girls he usually went after, even if she could now see how easy it was for him to pick up women. If she didn't stop this soon, she'd get swept away by her hormones.

Reno wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close as they sat atop the Seventh Heaven roof, under the wayward stars. His other hand slowly slid from her neck up to her cheek, where he curled some of her tresses around his fingers. He kept the other at the small of her back, letting his fingertips sink beneath the waistband of her skirt. He didn't move his hand lower yet, allowing himself to get caught up in the possibilities.

And then they were crushed.

Tifa pulled away gently and bit her lower lip as his hand still tangled in her hair and cupped her cheek. The sparkle in her eyes had dulled and Reno felt a pit in his stomach, the kind of feeling he got when he knew a mission was about to go horribly wrong.

"I can't do this," she said, all emotion suddenly leaving her voice.

"Do what?" he asked, fearing the answer as the pit continued to grow.

"Whatever you're trying to do," she responded, pulling away from him and bringing her knees up to her chin. "I've only ever loved one man my entire life." She looked straight forward, beyond the rooftop but at nothing in particular. "The thought of opening myself up again, even a little, it's…"

Reno shuffled to sit next to her and propped an arm up on his knee again, looking in the same direction as Tifa.

"I get it," he said, exhaling.

Tifa blinked and turned her head to look at him. Had Reno been in love before? She'd never imagined it was possible, given his promiscuity. But now that she _was_ thinking about it, it would make sense as to why he was this way.

"You do?" she asked, eyes wide and wondering if she'd hear the story.

Reno glanced at her briefly, noting how expectant she appeared. He turned back to look straight ahead.

"More than you know," he said with a heavy sigh, looking up at the sky

Now Tifa was curious, like she'd just found a lost puppy she was quietly trying to approach. Maybe she really did want a lost soul to save, as Reno had suggested weeks ago. She twisted toward him and leaned forward, closing the distance between them and supporting herself on her arms. He avoided her gaze, though it proved difficult.

Only two living people in the world other than Reno knew the story, and it had been easy for him to keep it to himself the past decade. She wouldn't crack him, no matter how pretty she was. Slowly, hesitantly, like she was reaching toward that aforementioned puppy, Tifa placed a hand on Reno's cheek for comfort. He settled into the warmth of her hand, closing his eyes and relishing the sympathy before reminding himself that he didn't need nor deserve such support.

His head tilted into her hand and he opened his eyes to look at her.

"You don't have to tell me, but if you ever want to, I'm here," she said, eyes full of genuine concern.

He smirked.

"Don't hold your breath," he said, giving her a coy smile, "but thanks."

They remained with their lips just inches apart for what felt like an eternity, before Tifa's cheeks reddened and she had to look away, removing her hand from his cheek as well. A lopsided grin appeared on Reno's face before quickly fading. Something had happened to make her pull away, something more than just fear.

"So, what'd Wallace say?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" Reno stared at her through heavy-lidded eyes. "Right. Well, he said exactly what you'd expect."

"And you agree with him?"

"Not completely, but he brought up some good points."

Reno sat back against the parapet and groaned. He _knew_ Wallace would say something after their beach trip, he just thought Tifa wouldn't listen. She had spent the past six months getting to know the Turks, after all. Could Barret have really erased everything he had built?

"He just doesn't want me to get hurt," Tifa explained. "And neither do I. I can't take that again."

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm not lookin' to hurt ya," Reno said. He was surprised by the admission. He was surprised by the _sincerity_ of the admission. He was lying, wasn't he? Anything to get Tifa into bed, that was the goal, right? "Funny enough, I actually came here to tell ya I'm gonna be gone for a while, didn't want ya to think I skipped out again."

"Really?"

"Heh, yeah. No more playing games like before."

"Hmm," Tifa considered his response. Could she trust a Turk? This could all be a new game; lies upon lies.

Her heart twinged. She couldn't deny that when she was around Reno she found herself thinking less and less about Cloud. She hadn't even actually cried over the blond in a couple weeks – and she knew Reno was a big reason for that. He made her laugh and she somehow felt comfortable in his presence. He and the rest of his colleagues were definitely not the same people who chased AVALANCHE around the world two years ago, and Tifa was beginning to think they never really were. Maybe they were all just pawns in Shinra's games.

But Barret _had_ made some good points. Maybe Cloud _did_ plan to come back, but if he did, should she even take him back after what he'd said and done? Misguided as he was, Reno had been there for her more often than not these past few months.

Her head was a mess, yet Reno seemed to _know_ this and still keep coming back. Maybe she was at a point where she just needed to let go and see where things went. She'd keep her guard up, for sure, but she couldn't go on wallowing anymore. It had been six months. Cloud couldn't just walk through her front doors and think everything would go back to how it was last year. Barret wasn't always right.

"Where are you going?" she asked after a long pause.

"Junon. Rufus thinks the Shinra scientists there might have some answers about what's going on with the fiends," he spoke to her as if he were briefing his colleagues, a strange change of tone for the Turk. He turned to look at her again. "Like I said before, I'll let you know what I find out."

Tifa was surprised he remembered making the offer last month.

"How will Rufus feel about that?"

"Ain't you AVALANCHE people looking into this, too?" Reno asked. "Who says we can't make discoveries on our own?"

"Be careful," Tifa replied. Reno beamed.

"You know me, babe," he said, jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb, "I'm always careful."

He chuckled and stood up, again looming over her as she continued to sit on the rooftop. He offered her a hand and pulled her up, waiting until she brushed the dirt from her skirt to give her another cocky grin.

"It's getting late, and I'm on helicopter duty tomorrow," he said when she looked at him again. She nodded. "I'll let you know when I'm back."

Before she could say anything, he leaned forward to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. He knew she wasn't completely against the idea of him again – Wallace had just gotten into her head. He'd made it this far, and he was not one to back down from a challenge. She smiled softly as he removed his lips from her.

She watched as he disappeared effortlessly over the side of the building; a cat moving swiftly between the alley walls. Barret's words still spun in her mind, but she couldn't help smiling over her encounter with Reno.

She'd be cautious, but if nothing else, maybe she could get more information about the monster attacks.

_The next day…_

For some reason Rufus demanded four bodyguards to accompany him on the trip to Junon. To talk to scientists. In a secured facility. Reno would have objected to the trip by saying that as second-in-command he should stay behind to hold down the fort, but he really didn't want to pass up a chance to fly his baby.

It made some sense to protect Rufus when he was recovering at Healen Lodge and was seriously weakened, but now it was just ostentatious. Then again, Rufus always had a flair for the dramatics.

Reno and his colleagues had been on the helipad with their bags for the past hour waiting for Rufus. Reno and Rude kept themselves busy with their pre-flight checks aboard the helicopter, while Elena tried to engage Tseng in conversation. The director, however, maintained his professional demeanor to be prepared for the president.

Rufus finally arrived on the roof with a couple attendants carrying his luggage. Reno helped the assistants secure the items and returned to the cockpit. Now he really _was_ someone's chauffeur.

They lifted off and were in Junon within an hour. The aircraft landed on the Shinra helipad at the Junon headquarters, where Rufus quickly disappeared into the building with a different set of assistants carrying his bags. Tseng lingered a moment to address Reno, Rude, and Elena.

"Don't get into any trouble," he said in his usual stern tone. "And see what you can dredge up about the monster situation. People around here are bound to have some theories."

With a wave of his hand, Tseng dismissed them and turned to follow Rufus. As soon as he was out of sight, Reno took command.

"So, bar?" he asked.

Rude nodded.

"Shouldn't we do as Tseng said?" Elena asked, like the teacher's pet she was.

"What better place to hear what the people are thinking than at a bar?" Reno replied. "You think we're just going to drink? Tch, 'Lena, you've still got so much to learn."

Elena rolled her eyes and looked to Rude for backup, as if that were even a possibility. Rude would always back up Reno over her.

"Fine," she pouted, prompting a grin from Reno.

"Off we go then," the redhead said.

_Meanwhile…_

Another cure spell had done the trick. Tifa's gunshot wound was completely healed with only a minor scar. No more pain when she stretched or twisted. She silently thanked Elena for forcing her to go to the hospital. She had plenty of scars on her body, which made her self-conscious even though the only man in her life who had ever seen her naked had more scars than she did.

With the Turks off in Junon, she found herself suddenly feeling lonely. Sure, Marle wasn't too far away, and neither were Wymer or Andrea, but her home was empty. She had gone from being alone to being surrounded by people to being alone again, and each time she was by herself now she started to feel some kind of crushing pressure in the air around her, like she was underwater struggling to reach the surface.

She couldn't keep going on like this. She had to get stronger. She needed to be okay with being alone. Or maybe she should invite Yuffie to visit for a while.

Yuffie had stayed with her and Cloud for a couple weeks after the bar and apartment were finished. She planned on staying longer, but two weeks was beyond Cloud's limit. Yuffie's immaturity never bothered Tifa, but her teasing – especially after Cloud had shown any affection toward Tifa – really grated on him. He started suggesting she leave after the first week. He was all but pushing her out the door by the end of the second.

Tifa now sat in her kitchen with a bunch of empty chairs. She had made sure the kitchen was big enough to fit an eight-person table, just in case everyone from AVALANCHE wanted to visit at the same time. That never happened, and so now she sat at the head of the table with nothing but memories to fill the other chairs. She sighed and took a sip of coffee, her legs crossed under the table and her hair still drying from her shower.

At least she wouldn't be alone once the bar was opened. Barret had considered staying an extra week to make sure there was no more trouble, but he needed to get Marlene back to school and as much as he knew Tifa wanted the company right now, he also knew she wouldn't appreciate being treated as though she couldn't take care of herself.

She sighed again and looked at the clock on the back of the stove. Yuffie was probably awake since it was still the night before in Wutai. Tifa pulled out her PHS and scrolled to her friend's number in her contacts list.

"Hey Tifa!" Yuffie said excitedly over what Tifa could tell was a large crowd in a noisy bar.

"Hey Yuffie, you busy?" Tifa asked as she traced the lines of wood grain in the table.

"No, let me just get outside," the younger woman said.

For a few moments Tifa heard people shouting and the muffled sounds of Yuffie pushing through a crowd before everything became quieter.

"Whew, that's better!" the young ninja said. "So, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing, sorry to bother you, sounds like you were at a party."

"Nah, just some lame bar trying to find a boyfriend. You okay?"

Tifa didn't want to ruin her friend's evening with her melancholy.

"Yeah, just lonely. Barret and Marlene left yesterday and the house is now empty…"

"So, Blondie _still_ hasn't come back?"

"…No."

"Honestly, Teef, I think it's time to let him go and find someone new," Yuffie took no pleasure in saying the words, but at this point she thought her friend needed to hear them. Yuffie adored Cloud and his relationship with Tifa, but it had been six months since he just upped and left and no one had seen or heard from him since. He didn't _want_ to be found at this point, and whatever his reason for leaving, it wouldn't be good enough for _her_ and it shouldn't be good enough for Tifa.

"I don't know," Tifa said, promising herself not to tell Yuffie about Reno.

"You don't have to do anything now, just keep it in the back of your mind," Yuffie offered. "Hey, how about this, why don't I come down in a few days and we'll go out and get so drunk we'll forget all about Spike."

Tifa chuckled softly.

"Okay Yuffie, that sounds good."

"Awesome, see you soon."

At least Tifa wouldn't be alone for much longer. Yuffie was a much better option than trying to deal with her loneliness cold turkey, she told herself.

_Later…_

The theater's construction was moving right along. The stage was nearly finished, and the audience seats had arrived. Tifa was helping the welders move the rows of seats into place when her phone started ringing. She excused herself and tried to find an area of the building that wasn't taken over by hammering, drilling, welding, or sawing.

She gave up and went outside, braving the streets. She stuck to the wall of the theater in the shade, hoping any monsters that went past would either ignore her (unlikely) or keep their distance because of the noise she was making on her phone.

"Sorry about that, Nanaki," she told her old friend. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, but the monster attacks are getting worse. Is Edge any better?"

"No, it's worse here too, but Reeve has been building up the police force to help take care of them and people are now traveling across the rooftops."

"Oh, that's good to hear," Nanaki said, a twinge of jealousy in his voice. "So, Tifa, I knew you said before you couldn't leave to help, and I was wondering if that was still the case?"

"I think I've been closing the bar a lot recently, but once more would probably be alright."

"Why have you been closing the bar so much?"

That Nananki, always wanting to know everything.

"I went with Vincent to Nibelheim to check the Shinra mansion for Hojo's old research to see if he had conducted any experiments on monsters using Jenova or the Lifestream…"

"Wait, hold on a second," Nanaki insisted. "Did you learn anything?"

"No, the Turks showed up and stole everything we thought might be promising."

"I see," Nanaki had known the Turks would revert to their usual antics at some point, even if they had been helping Tifa keep the monsters away.

"Nanaki?"

"Oh, yes, I was wondering if you could come here to help me look through the Elders' library. I've searched all the shelves I can reach, and the Elders are too feeble to assist me further."

"So, you're only asking me to help you reach?" Tifa joked.

"No, no! I was just hoping to see you again, it's been too long." And really, Tifa gave the best scritches, even if he didn't want to admit that he liked them.

"Well, Yuffie is coming in a few days, maybe we can both come help?"

"That'd be perfect, then we can search the other library."

"Other library?"

"Yes, it's buried in the canyon near the Cave of the Gi but it's too dangerous to go alone."

"I'm sure Yuffie would be up for a fight," Tifa giggled.

"Let me know when you're on your way – and be careful" the red beast warned.

"We will," Tifa promised before hanging up.

It was about time for her to be heading back to the bar anyway, now that the monster attacks were so prevalent. She used to be able to walk home from whatever building she was working on without a problem, then she would only encounter a fight maybe every few weeks, then once a week, then once a day. Now she practically had to fight her way back to her bar and take another shower before opening for the night. She could always take to the skywalks like everyone else in Edge, but she thought she could do her part to clean up the city by fighting when others couldn't. Besides, if people simply ignored the streets, the monsters could multiply and break capacity.

She was exhausted by the time she reached her bar that day. She used to have friends around to help her during battles, but now, every time she fought, she was reminded of how alone she was during the day.

The bar was crowded, filled with her regulars and new patrons wanting to show support for her after news had spread of the altercation over a week ago. The amount of customers kept her busy, keeping her from sinking into her thoughts from the days before.

She was just settling into bed when the text message came.

"So boring in Junon, you should come ;)"

He never failed to throw her off balance. He wasn't giving up, even after what she said. Either he really did like her or he considered her the ultimate notch on his bedpost. Tifa still wasn't sure which.

Yuffie wouldn't be in town until Friday. Even though she would just be alone a few days, she found the prospect crippling. She had never really been alone until the past few months and she had now decided she was not cut out for it. What's worse, she and Yuffie would have to travel through Junon to get to Cosmo Canyon. If she reached out to Reno, it might give him the idea that she was obtainable. If they happened to run into each other, it would look like she came running when he called.

No, the best option was to slip through unnoticed.

_Friday…_

Yuffie blew into town like a hurricane. She screeched when Tifa opened the door, didn't stop talking (it didn't even look like she took a breath) for a full 45 minutes after walking inside, and distributed her belongings around the upstairs apartment as if she lived there. While Cloud would have been annoyed with her behavior, Tifa was happy to not be given a moment to slide back into her depressive thoughts.

Reno's words from Sunday still stuck with her. _If there is one thing in this whole world you ain't, Lockhart, it's alone_. The words were comforting, but whenever she found herself alone, she couldn't help but doubt what Reno said.

"…and then he was like, 'that'll be 5 gil,' and I was like, 'you asked me if I wanted a shot, why should I pay?' Ugh, boys," Yuffie was saying. Tifa just nodded her head and listened.

"So, enough about me, what's new with you?" the young ninja asked.

Tifa took a sip of coffee, considering whether to let Yuffie know the truth about what she had been up to.

"Not much," she decided the less she said, the better. "Just working the bar, helping Marle with the orphanage, and building the theater."

"How's that coming?"

"Really well. The stage is just about finished and we put in the audience seats this week. We pretty much just have to build the backstage area and the lobby and we'll be done."

"Oooo I can't wait to come see a play!" Yuffie enthused. "Do you think they'll get Loveless?"

"Maybe. I hope so."

"So, what else?"

"I got shot."

"WHAT?" the young ninja exclaimed so loud Tifa thought her ears might be ringing. "WHEN?"

"A couple weeks ago. Some patrons got into an argument and pulled guns. One accidentally went off and hit me."

"Where?"

"Here," Tifa pointed to her abdomen, which no longer showed any sign of injury. Yuffie had to look close to even see the scar.

"Wow, isn't materia great?"

"Yeah. It helped a lot. That, and the Turks took me to the hospital."

"Wait, _what_?" Yuffie nearly screamed again. "You've been hanging out with the _Turks_?"

"Well, not exactly. They were here just before the gun went off. Elena shot the guy and called an ambulance. They took me home from the hospital, too."

"All of them?"

"Elena, Rude, and Reno."

"I can't imagine any of them helping one of us," Yuffie said, laughing.

"I was surprised as well," Tifa added.

Yuffie started side-eyeing her skeptically. The Turks wouldn't just help AVALANCHE out of the blue. The gears started turning in the young girl's head. Something was going on here that she hadn't been told about. The last thing she'd heard from Tifa about the Turks was months ago, when the bartender told her how those Shinra lackeys had been helping fight monsters in Edge. Tifa had said then that the Turks seemed different than they were two years ago, but Yuffie never considered the possibility that her friend was _actually_ warming up to them.

"So, they just helped you out of the blue, just like that?" Yuffie began her interrogation.

"Well, they've been helping me with the monster attacks for a while now…" Tifa almost muttered, worried she would give herself away.

"So, what, you're friends with the _Turks_ now?"

"I wouldn't say friends, but we are on friendly terms," Tifa was now praying Yuffie would stop digging.

"Hmmm… didn't one of them like you?"

Apparently Yuffie wasn't going to let up. Tifa mentally prepared herself to answer questions very carefully. Yuffie couldn't find out about her and Reno. _No one_ could find out. _She_ didn't even want to know about her and Reno.

"Rude." _Please don't ask any more questions. Please don't ask any more questions._

"Well, you're single now, have you thought about it?"

"I don't feel… single…" Tifa didn't want to admit it out loud, even though she let that be her excuse for anything that went on between her and Reno. She certainly couldn't tell Yuffie about her date with Rude and wouldn't even bring up Reno's name.

"You didn't say you didn't think about it."

"Hey, Yuffie, we should get ready to go to Cosmo Canyon." It was time to just bluntly change the topic and hope Yuffie wouldn't readdress the conversation.

"Oh yeah! We can talk on the way!"

Great.

Tifa pulled open a large wooden door behind the bar near the back alley with the dumpsters. The smell of grime and oil filled the air as a cloud of dust cleared in the wind generated by the door. The two women coughed and swatted at the air in front of their faces before peering into the garage. Until Barret had visited, the garage had been as abandoned as the Costa del Sol villa. The streets were so littered with monsters she couldn't really drive the truck Cloud had bought her after the bar was built.

"Oh GAWD it's gorgeous!" Yuffie said, overlooking the coat of dust that had taken to the shiny red paint exterior of the vehicle.

It resembled the truck Tifa stole from Shinra headquarters two years ago: Three wheels, two in the front, and a cab that held just two people. When Cloud first bought it for her, the two used it to get supplies for the bar, but now she feared monsters would destroy one of her most prized possessions – or scratch it.

Candy apple red. She had wanted the brightest, reddest truck available, and Cloud surprised her with it – he even put a big white bow on it and led her to the garage with her hands over her eyes.

Yuffie tried to blow some of the dust off the hood so she could get a better look at the color. She ran her fingers over the glossy paint as if touching it would be better than touching any other vehicle.

She opened the passenger's side door and coughed again as new dust fell from the roof.

"You haven't used this since Spike left, have you?" she said between coughs.

Tifa shook her head and got in the driver's side. This was the second time this week she would have to revisit a past gift from Cloud, the first being the villa. It was really toying with her emotions, bringing up all kinds of memories she didn't want to think about right now.

_Flashback…_

Tifa squealed for the second time that day once she was sitting behind the wheel of her brand new truck. Cloud got in beside her to explain some of the cool new features Shinra had added to this model. Yes, it was Shinra-made, but the company had the market cornered on trucks and Tifa really had always wanted one. Reeve had opened up a temporary dealership to sell the few vehicles he and the Turks had managed to salvage from the wreckage of Midgar. He hired some mechanics to make sure the vehicles were as good as new and to even improve the on-board computers.

Only one person in Nibelheim had a vehicle, and it was a truck. All the kids used to play on it as it was left to rust in a side yard. It was the only vehicle Tifa had seen until Shinra showed up in town, and she always knew her dream car was actually a truck.

She was a country girl at heart, no matter how much trauma she had been through or how much of the world she had seen. Cloud wanted to give that little piece of her back.

"See this light here?" he said, pointing to a small bulb on the dashboard. "It lights up and beeps more rapidly as you approach something while backing up, so you won't hit anything."

Tifa still couldn't say anything other than "oooo" and "thank you."

"And this here?" he said, moving his finger to the tip of her nose. "This is the most beautiful woman in the world."

She had to laugh at his sappiness. The surprise truck was romantic, but he always had to go one step too far toward being cheesy.

"You're such a dork," she told him before leaning over to kiss him. "But thank you."

_Present day…_

"Uh, Tifa? Why are you staring at me?" Yuffie asked, shifting her eyes and flaring her nostrils.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, just thinking about something."

She turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. She may still have some misgivings about moving on from Cloud or seeing where things went with Reno, but she had convinced herself over the past few days that using this truck would be a step toward salvation. She had been so afraid for it to get damaged that she never even looked at it after Cloud left (except when Barret was using the garage). Now she was prepared for it to get wrecked if it meant finding out how to stop the fiends.

Besides, the had no choice. Cid couldn't fly them to Cosmo Canyon in the Highwind because those "got-dang monsters" had gotten to it. He was swearing up a storm about the attack on his property, but Tifa suspected he was actually excited to get back to mechanical work and even upgrade the ship.

Driving out of town proved to be just as slow-going and frustrating as if there had been Friday afternoon traffic. Tifa drove, avoiding fiends when she could, and Yuffie cast Blizzard spells on any that tried to attack the truck. It did more damage to insect types, and didn't cause damage to nearby buildings like Fire would.

One of the first things Reeve had done when building Edge was to carve out a path through the mountains to the south and pave a road so that supplies could be carried in from Junon. A tunnel had been built through the base of the mountains, allowing easy passage between the towns. The tunnel was outfitted with state-of-the art protections to keep monsters out while allowing vehicles through. Still, the towns were still a mess, so few cars were on the roads anyway.

Tifa felt like she barely even breathed as they drove through the tunnel – the tight space giving her a sense of claustrophobia – and was thankful to just let Yuffie talk her ear off the whole way. If there had been a test afterward based on what Yuffie said, however, Tifa would have failed.

The road eventually merged with the main street in Junon leading to the docks. It was early evening by the time they loaded the car onto the boat that would carry them across the ocean, but it wasn't scheduled to leave for a few more hours.

"Let's hit up a bar!" Yuffie pleaded.

The little ninja had recently turned 18 and seemed to be intent on trying every drink from every bar she could. Tifa had her reservations, worried they might run into Reno in one of the many bars Junon had to offer. And knowing Tifa's luck, it would probably be the first bar they visited.

She had gone back to ignoring his texts, thinking that if she started responding he'd end up losing interest and then she'd be getting ditched by two different men. He hadn't texted her since, either.

"Fine, but don't drink too much," Tifa cautioned. "You don't want to make your motion sickness any worse."

"Thanks _mom_," Yuffie responded as she led Tifa toward the closest bar she could see.

_Three quick shots later…_

"I'm in Junon for a few hours," Tifa texted Reno.

He probably wouldn't even respond, but now the text was out there, and she felt embarrassed. She prayed Reno wouldn't see it until she was already off the continent and on her way to searching dusty old books and fighting ghosts.

She refused to drink anymore. She may have lowered her inhibitions enough to actually text the Turk that she was in town, but she wouldn't let herself get drunk enough to actually let him do what he wanted with her.

Her phone buzzed.

"I'm at Port Pub near the docks. Meet me in the side alley."

"Side alley?"

"Love to take you to my hotel but Rude and Elena might ask questions."

"What makes you think I'd let you take me to your hotel?"

"See you soon ;)"

Yuffie leaned over the table and tried to snatch Tifa's PHS from her.

"Who ya textin'?" she asked playfully after she failed to steal the phone.

"No one," Tifa said quickly. "Barret."

"Hmm," Yuffie said, tapping a finger to her chin in an exaggerated display of disbelief. "I think it's someone else. Someone you don't want me to know about…"

"It's no one."

"Oooo you _really_ don't want me to know, huh?"

"Seriously, Yuffie, it's no one important. I'll be right back," Tifa said while standing up and leaving their table, making sure her PHS was securely in her skirt pocket.

She headed for the bathrooms knowing Yuffie was probably watching her. She disappeared down the back hallway for a moment before pretending to walk back just in case the ninja was still watching. When Tifa saw that she wasn't, she crouched down and snuck out the front door, hiding amongst the crowd of patrons.

She had never been so deceptive before. She lied to Barret at the beach, and now she was lying to Yuffie in order to sneak out and meet _Reno_ of the Turks in a back alley like some kind of prostitute. She was just doing this to prove to herself he wasn't serious and she should let him go. She'd get to the alley and he wouldn't be there, she told herself, and she could feel ashamed and move on, just like she tried last night.

She told herself to just turn around and rejoin Yuffie instead. She was making a _huge_ mistake, and she would surely get caught. Yuffie was a trained ninja, after all. And she wasn't stupid, even if she played dumb sometimes.

Tifa looked over her shoulder once she had walked a little way away from the bar, convinced Yuffie would be following her. She still could be, but she wasn't being obvious about it, which was expected. Port Pub was just a few doors down from the bar where Tifa and Yuffie had been. Tifa stopped when she saw the old wooden sign hanging off the side of the building.

"This is a mistake," she said out loud to herself before hugging her arms across her chest and turning around to return to her friend.

The proximity to the dock caused the street she was on to be rather windy and cold, with drops of the ocean dotting her face as she walked. She had taken just a few steps back toward the other bar when she heard _that_ voice.

"Yo, Lockhart, over here," Reno said to her while peeking his head around the alley wall, his voice low yet forceful.

She whipped around when she heard him, knowing she was trapped now. If she kept walking away, he would follow her, and Yuffie would find out what she had been doing. But if she stayed, who knows what she might let Reno do to her. She clutched her arms across her body and turned around slowly, smelling the salty air and spying Reno looking like some back-alley drug dealer. For all she knew, that was his second job. He certainly seemed the type.

She lowered her head and trotted over to him, refusing to even acknowledge what she was doing.

"Well, hello to you too, babe," he said, following her into the alley as she walked past him without a word. He grabbed her upper arm as she walked to stop her from getting too far. "Hey, what's wrong?"

What's wrong? _What's wrong?_ How about the fact that Tifa Lockhart was meeting a Turk in an alley after ditching her best friend at a bar.

Tifa placed her hands behind her and rested her back against the wall of the pub, giving off that innocent air Reno had been so fond of all these years. She looked over at him with an unreadable expression as she considered how to answer.

"Nothing's wrong," she said simply. "I'm just surprised to find myself here."

"In Junon?"

Tifa's expression dropped. "You know what I mean."

"Oh, I think I do," Reno said, approaching her cautiously.

When she didn't flinch, he moved closer still, until his face was just an inch from her own. He acted like he was going to kiss her, but instead let a feral grin spread across his face.

"You want to see me and then you ignore me? That's not very nice, yo," he taunted. "And after I flew you to the beach."

"I'm… I'm sorry," she said.

Well, now he felt bad. He thought she'd play along, not get dejected. What had that Strife guy done to her?

"Relax, Lockhart, I'm just playin'," he said, barely above a whisper but sounding just a tad irritated. Not at her, although it looked that way, but at himself. He just could _not_ read this woman.

Tifa looked up at him and let a soft smile escape her lips, never imagining him to be so awkward around a woman. She brought a hand up to cup the side of his face, rubbing one of the tattoos under his eyes with her thumb while her other hand snaked behind his neck. Maybe the alcohol was affecting her more than she thought.

Reno usually liked rough foreplay, but Tifa had this way of softening him. Outwardly, he would say he hated that about her, but truthfully it made him purr like a kitten. He leaned his forehead on hers, the tips of their noses brushing against each other.

And then he was kissing her. Rough, passionate, raw, almost cruel at times. His tongue danced with hers before he pulled back to bite her lower lip. She lifted her head and moaned, clawing at his scalp with her nails. He started peppering her with kisses up her jawline to her earlobe, which he bit firmly with just the slightest tug, and continued back down to her neck.

She lifted one of her legs instinctively to wrap around his waist as he started to paw at her, his hands exploring what he already knew was safe territory. Oh, he wanted to take advantage of her leg in the air, that was for sure, but with a lady like Tifa, he knew better than to take things further in a filthy alley, even if it did excite him.

He knew Tifa had been drinking, but he also knew she could hold her liquor better than most of her regulars. No, there was some other reason she was giving in to him, and it wasn't just the alcohol on her breath.

"Rethinkin' what Wallace said?" he breathed into her ear before nibbling on her neck again. She angled her chin up to give him better access and cooed.

"…maybe," was her only response.

He growled and pressed his right hand against the brick wall behind her for balance, while his left hand roamed over her right breast. He then moved his hand to her ribcage, daring himself to travel south but knowing it would be safer to remain north.

Tifa moaned as she kept her arms around his shoulders, clutching his hair in her hands. He brought his lips back up to hers and she opened her mouth to let his tongue enter once again. She managed to grab his tongue and sucked on it. He howled into her mouth and pressed his hips against hers, his erection making itself known against her pubic bone. No one had ever done that last move to him prior to her in Costa, and he was losing the will to keep her dignity. Stopping was going to be nearly impossible at this point, but he couldn't ask Tifa Lockhart to suck his cock or fuck him in an alley, even if it was all he could think about now. What had gotten into _her_?

It was Tifa's first glimpse of what Reno may be carrying between his legs. She obviously couldn't see it, but she could sense he was bigger than she would have imagined. It was probably why he had so much confidence around women.

This encounter was a mistake, Reno thought. He couldn't get enough of her, and now he was risking suspicion from his colleagues. They knew his cigarette breaks couldn't take this long, even if he was out goofing around with the locals.

Tifa began worrying what Yuffie would think when she got back. The younger woman wouldn't believe Tifa was in the bathroom that long (or at least, she kind of hoped she wouldn't) and she wouldn't have an explanation. Plus, she was enjoying this too much.

"Why'd you agree?" Reno asked after he pulled back, his hand still on her breast.

Tifa looked at him with doe eyes and smiled sweetly.

"I was in the neighborhood…" she said, swirling a lock of his hair around her finger.

"Fuck babe, I don't wanna leave you," Reno said, burying his face against her neck and sucking on her pulse point.

"I know," she said, like someone comforting a friend. "But I have to get back, too."

She gently pulled his head back to look at him with wistful eyes. She was _killing_ him tonight.

She let her leg return to the ground and shifted to get him to remove his hand from her breast. She adjusted her bra and shirt and then tugged at the hem of her skirt.

"So, what brought you to Junon?" Reno asked, taking a step back to let his eyes examine her one last time.

"Heading overseas." Tifa didn't want to tell him where she was going in case he'd snitch to Shinra and be ordered to follow her. She couldn't _fully_ trust him, even if he had been rather chivalrous lately – except for this moment. And the one in Costa. Besides, she never promised to share what she learned with _him_.

"Ah, short and sweet, just like a Turk," he said.

She placed a finger on the tip of his nose to hold him in place and turned to walk out of the alley. She felt so dirty, but in a good way. She was enjoying being bad. This was the most alive she'd felt since Cloud left and she couldn't let the fear of what Barret might think keep her from moving on.

Walking away from Reno at that moment took a lot of will power, but she knew they both didn't have much time. As she turned the corner to return to Yuffie, she had a smile on her face. Her decision to meet Reno was definitely _not_ a mistake. She practically skipped back to her friend, trying to calm her raging hormones. She was so distracted she didn't even think to sneak into the bar.

She sat back down at their table, trying at least to contain her beaming grin.

"Tifa, you're all red!" Yuffie exclaimed, confidant she had just discovered some secret.

Tifa reached up to touch her face, as if she could _feel_ the redness. Her face was definitely warm despite the cold wind outside. She blushed further, knowing she had been caught.

"I _knew_ you weren't going to the bathroom! Who was it?" Yuffie asked, excited.

Tifa stammered. She couldn't tell Yuffie the truth, but she wasn't that adept at lying.

"No one, I told you, I was in the bathroom," was all she could say.

"Yeah, mmhmm, sure," Yuffie said sarcastically. She picked up a menu and pretended to look for something to order for a minute. "Nice hickey, by the way," she said casually, without looking up at Tifa.

And yet again, Reno had managed to embarrass her. Tifa brought her hand up to cover the mark, assuming her whole body must now be red.

"I'm _going_ to find out who you've been shacking up with, you know," Yuffie added, lowering the menu and showing her mischievous grin.

Tifa sunk back in her seat. Leaving her friend for a rendezvous with Reno was _definitely_ a mistake.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno needed a minute or two to compose himself after he watched Tifa leave his sight. That girl was something else, that was for sure. He jogged in place for a moment and took a few deep, quick breaths to calm down. He cracked his neck on each side and threw a couple fake punches into the air.

Ready.

He took his victory walk down the alley, wide-legged, leading with his hips, prepared to return to normal as soon as he turned the corner and… ran right into Rude.

"Hey… buddy," Reno said as casually as possible, praying to Ramuh that Rude had _just_ left the bar.

Rude just stood stiffly with his arms folded across his chest, but Reno could tell he was being glared at from behind those sunglasses.

"How long?" Rude asked, his tone falling somewhere between irritation and disinterest.

"Huh?"

"With Tifa."

"What about Tifa?" Reno was just stalling, knowing he wasn't helping his situation by playing dumb.

"How long have you been seeing her?" Rude huffed.

"I'm not seeing her."

"I just _saw_ you."

Reno hung his head. He knew this day would come, but he hadn't prepared for it. He had been hoping the moment wouldn't come until _after_ he had slept with Tifa, that way he could tell his friend it was over. He never wanted to hurt his friend, but he couldn't help himself. He wanted that woman so badly.

"Not too long," he said shamefully.

This wasn't going to be easy, but hopefully the fact that they were on a mission would lessen the confrontation.

"How long?"

Reno couldn't lie to his friend, but he wasn't sure to what he was actually referring. His first kiss with Tifa was after her date with Rude, but he first started to pursue her the night he took her phone. And he had _wanted_ her since the plate was dropped on Sector 7, before he knew Rude had a crush on her. He scratched the back of his head and looked at Rude's feet.

"Before your date…" he said, his eyes still toward the ground. Was there any answer that wouldn't damage their friendship?

"Did she…?"

Reno put his hands up defensively and shook them.

"No. No! She wanted to go out with you man. She didn't want me back then."

He could tell his flimsy explanations weren't helping.

"Back then?"

There was no salvaging this. Reno thought the best way to conserve his friendship would be to tell the truth, as Reno saw it.

"Okay, look, yo," he began, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger. "That day, in Gongaga, when I asked you who you liked? I thought you were going to say Elena. I was all set to brag to you about how I wanted Tifa… but then you said you liked her and I didn't know what to say."

Rude didn't move, like he expected Reno to say more.

"I tried to keep it down, yo, because I knew you liked her, but these past few months I just couldn't hold back anymore, yanno?"

Rude sighed heavily.

"Why did you avoid her that week?"

Oh shit. Letting Rude know about him and Tifa was one thing, but he couldn't let his best friend know he had waited for her after their date to ravage her. He scratched the back of his head again, nervously.

"I was trying to let it go… after your date," he admitted. "I tried to keep away, but I couldn't stop thinking about her."

"Do you actually like her?"

Reno nearly choked. No, of course not. She was just a hot body to him, but that would probably make stealing her away from Rude that much worse.

It was all clicking in Rude's head. Elena's question, Reno's reaction to Tifa accepting Rude's date, his avoidance of her bar, _the flowers, _even the red tint to his skin now screamed at him that his suspicions had been right all along.

"I… I honestly don't know," Reno lowered his head again, hoping he was still lying.

Rude just stood there; no sounds, no movements.

An eternity seemed to pass between them as Reno waited for some indication that they would be alright as friends. He couldn't help his feelings and he couldn't help _her_ feelings.

He checked his pocket for his pack of cigarettes but remembered he had smoked his last one waiting for Tifa and tossed the box in the alley. When he looked back up, he was met with a fist to his face.

Reno definitely couldn't blame Rude for socking him, but damn did it hurt to be on the receiving end of one of his best friend's punches. He was all brute strength, with none of the hotness that Tifa brought to the table when she had hit him.

His nose felt as though it had been smashed back into his skull, and he wouldn't have been surprised if his eye had popped out of its socket. He immediately brought his hands up to check. His nose was still there, but it felt fatter than before and hurt with the slightest touch. He opened his left eye and saw… pretty much the same thing as his right eye, but everything was red. He touched his forehead and felt something warm and wet, lowering his fingers to see blood. He looked back to Rude, but he had vanished.

Reno whipped around to see Rude walking briskly in the opposite direction. The redhead held a hand under his chin to catch the blood that was falling from his face as his eye was rapidly swelling. Where was Tifa to clean him up this time? Okay, bad time to think about her.

He figured Elena had been waiting long enough at this point, and he needed to explain things to her. Another conversation he was dreading.

He held his head high, took a deep breath, and entered the bar as if one half of his face wasn't bleeding and swollen. He sat back at the booth where the Turks had been and forced a smile, which hurt like hell. Elena looked up and gasped.

"Oh my God! What happened to you? Where's Rude? Is he okay?"

Reno held up a hand to stop her from rattling off a dozen more questions. In the brief moment it took for him to make the gesture, Elena had put it all together.

"He knows, doesn't he?" she asked, solemnly.

It was Reno's turn to look shocked, but the movement inflamed his injury.

"Huh?"

"Reno, stop it," Elena said plainly. "I've known for years."

Reno's jaw about hit the table in astonishment, or maybe it had broken off from Rude's punch.

"Was it supposed to be a secret?" she asked.

Reno still had no clue how she knew. "How did you…?"

"I started suspecting after Gongaga."

Reno could have hit the floor. He knew Elena had some goddess-like powers of perception, but he didn't know she'd use them against _him_.

"Do you _suspect_ he'll ever forgive me?" Reno asked with genuine concern, holding his head in his hands.

Elena could see he was hurting – and not just physically. Reno and Rude were the most veteran Turks next to Tseng, and best friends. She'd seen Reno ruthlessly drive away anyone on a whim, but he was loyal to the Turks and especially to Rude. They were a team, always had been; practically inseparable. They always took each other's sides, too – at least against her. They pulled pranks together, they schemed together, and they worked together. Elena didn't know what to say to him. She knew Rude had been suspicious for some time – partially due to her comment a couple months ago – but she wouldn't be able to tell how forgiving he was until she could see him now.

"I don't know," she said, looking at her drink and lazily swirling the alcohol inside with her straw. "But I'd say the punch to the face and him storming off might be a good sign he just needs to let off steam."

"I've _never_ seen Rude lose his cool, yo," Reno couldn't believe he had been found out.

_Now_ how was he supposed to pursue Tifa? Anything he did would hurt Rude, probably, and he'd feel so much more guilty about his actions. Maybe after he saw Rude again he'd find some thrill in continuing to do something so wrong. He was already starting to see how that could be hot.

He shook the thought from his head. He was a rotten friend. The worst, actually, and Rude had just found that out in the worst way possible. Reno didn't know how much his friend had seen, but it was definitely enough. Even if he walked up just as Tifa was pulling away he would have seen Reno with her pinned against the wall, one leg up around his waist and his hand on her tit. No way to misinterpret that.

He suddenly lost his desire to drink and dropped some gil on the table to pay everyone's tab. Rude wasn't walking in the direction of Shinra temporary housing, so Reno decided he would go back to the apartment where they were all staying.

He trudged up the stairs to their room and slowly opened the door, flipping on a light switch and heading to the bathroom to clean his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. Yup, he looked exactly like he deserved to feel.

Meeting Tifa in that alley was a mistake. One he would surely make again.


	22. Reunion In Cosmo Canyon

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.**

**Updated 10/29/2020: Edits throughout. Added more information about the monster problem.**

Chapter 22:

Reno sat on the white leather couch in the living room of the Shinra temporary housing unit that the Turks were currently occupying. One of his hands hung limply between his legs while the other clutched a frozen bag of _something_ to his injured face. He hadn't checked the label when he grabbed it from the freezer. He could have cleared this all up with a Hi-potion, but there he sat, knowing he _deserved_ the pain from Rude's fist.

The sun was setting outside, but he ignored the picturesque view that Junon offered in order to wallow in self-pity. He was alone in the apartment and figured that if he sat out in the open, he could get a reminder from the other Turks about what a jackass he was. He needed to hear it right now.

He had betrayed his best friend – a fellow Turk. It was a double betrayal. And so here he was, basking in his misery while trying to push images of Tifa from his head. Images of her pressed up against the alley wall, a leg lifted to rest on his hip as he pushed against her, the space between them completely nonexistent. Images of her hands clawing at his untamed locks, their tongues tangled, of an evening sun kissing their faces.

Reno decided that he couldn't pursue Tifa until Rude was okay with it, even if it meant he would never get to touch her again – even if it meant being the second man this year to leave her high and dry with an unsatisfactory explanation. Not that he felt Tifa would be _too_ heartbroken; she still seemed a bit cool to him, but he figured she would at least be hurt by the abruptness of the halt and be reminded of Cloud's disappearance. He let out a heavy sigh at the thought of hurting her, which caused a sharp pain to the cartilage of his damaged nose.

She hadn't told him where she was actually going, leaving his mind to wander. Maybe she was traveling to see the little ninja or one of those other AVALANCHE pests. Come to think of it, they were almost all on the western continent now, except for Tifa and Reeve. Well, maybe Cloud and Vincent were there as well but who the hell knows?

He suddenly felt heat boil up to the back of his neck and into his stomach. What if Tifa were going to look for Cloud? He knew she still missed that walking research subject, but he knew that if she were looking for him alone, she could be in danger. But now he didn't know where she would be and he couldn't follow her because he was on bodyguard duty. Ugh.

He winced as pain shot through his eye and nose. He managed to get the bleeding to stop, but his face was now swollen and purple beyond recognition. He had a – perhaps exaggerated – sense of his own attractiveness, and his vanity was now preventing him from going anywhere where he might be seen by strangers. Well, that and the fact he felt he deserved more punishment. He knew if he looked as pathetic as possible, his colleagues would think he was looking for sympathy and give him extra criticism, which he desperately wanted. He could only beat himself up so much, metaphorically speaking, and was growing anxious as he waited for someone to confirm what a devious, rotten, no-good scoundrel he had been.

He was just about too bored to remain sitting and waiting when he heard the door to the apartment click open. He positioned himself to look at the floor beneath him, with one hand on the freezer bag as he hunched over his knees.

He knew as soon as he heard footsteps on the hardwood floors that it was Tseng coming back from who knows where. Probably wherever Rufus was at that moment. The raven-haired Turk didn't gasp when he saw Reno – Gods, sometimes he could be as emotionless as Rude – but stood a few feet back and crossed his arms.

"So, Rude found out?" Tseng asked, almost amused.

Reno snapped his head up to look at his superior, the twist of his neck causing a different kind of agony.

"How did _you_ know?" He asked with the same level of shock in his voice as when he found out Elena knew.

Dammit, Elena must have told Tseng. She had such a big mouth and probably thought it would impress him.

"Do you think Elena is the only one skilled at perception?" Tseng asked, the corners of his lips curling into a slight smile. "I'm sure Elena _thinks_ she was the only one who noticed…"

"…Sir?" Reno continued to stare at his boss quizzically.

Tseng stiffened, narrowing his eyes at Reno and losing the smirk, letting the redhead silently know he was about to be lectured. Reno was all for it. He would take whatever discipline Tseng dished out – a pay cut, a suspension, anything – to make him feel like he had made up for what he had done to Rude and the Turks as an organization.

"Look, Reno," Tseng's tone was mysterious, yet almost nostalgic. "I know I don't have a leg to stand on in this matter…"

Wait, what did that mean? Was it because of how Tseng treated that Cetra years ago? Or was he up to something else now…

"…but fraternizing with an enemy of Shinra has never worked out well for anyone."

For anyone? Was he referring to his near-death experience at the Temple of the Ancients? Rude's relationship with Chelsea the AVALANCHE chick? Who else suffered for something like this?

Reno hesitated to argue with his superior about whether AVALANCHE was really still an enemy since they had largely disbanded and had saved the planet. Besides, they were all working together to beat back the fiends in Edge and frequently attended Seventh Heaven, which was owned by a former member of AVALANCHE.

"Sir…"

"Always remember your job comes first, Reno," Tseng warned, giving Reno a pointed stare before turning on his heel and entering his room.

He closed the door behind him. The apartment was fully stocked and furnished for out-of-town employees but resembled an off-campus apartment complex more than corporate housing. The furniture, of course, was expensive and the place was professionally decorated, but the apartment had four separate bedrooms – each with their own private bathroom – and a common area that contained the living room, dining area, and kitchen. Shinra had several apartments like this and tended to stuff visiting employees in to each one to cut down on costs.

Reno stared after his boss for a moment, still shocked that seemingly everyone but Rude knew about him and Tifa until tonight. He thought he had been so discreet; how could they have known? Elena picked up on little signals, sure, but did Tseng pick up on them too? Or was he being followed?

He pulled the freezer bag from his face and reached his other hand up to feel his wounds. Except for the fact that his skin was now wet and cold, not much had changed. He thought ice was supposed to _reduce_ swelling, be could barely see out of his left eye due to inflammation and he was now sure his nose was broken. He'd wait until Elena came back to give him a piece of her mind before asking her to check it out. If broken, he could shove it back into place himself – and gross out Elena to boot.

Elena entered the apartment a short time later. She didn't say anything to Reno but gave him a pretty nasty look before shaking her head in disgust and walking over to him to inspect the damage.

"Your nose is definitely broken," she said in a tone that conveyed her sense that he deserved the injury.

"Damn," Reno said. "Guess I should fix it then…"

He reached up his hands to either side of his nose.

"Wait! No! Let me get out of here!" Elena cried as she quickly got up and tried to get to her room.

_CRACK_.

Too late. She could hear the sound of bone and cartilage being reset and it sent a shudder down her spine. Reno _knew_ she hated that sound.

"You. Asshole," she said.

Reno suspected she wasn't just referring to him fixing his nose.

"Ugh, and I was going to eat that cauliflower rice, too," she whined, noticing the freezer bag Reno was again holding to his face.

He pulled the bag away again and inspected it, horrified to learn that he had used something so _girlie_ on his face. Where was the frozen peas or a good ol' steak? You know, like a _man_ would use? He quickly tossed it on the coffee table as if it were suddenly oozing some kind of thick pus.

Elena walked back over to him and picked it up to return it to the freezer. When she came back, she gave him a knock on the back of his head.

"That's for what you did to Rude!" she said, proudly yet defiantly.

"Ow! Hey! As I recall, you _knew_ about this even longer than I did, so how are you any better?" He stuck out his chin to show that he had taken the upper hand.

"Heh, _suspecting_ something and being the one _doing_ something are very different things," she said with a grin.

For once, Reno didn't have Rude to back him up against her. He depressed himself realizing he probably wouldn't have Rude to back him up for a long time, if ever again. He had thrown it all away, and for what?

Reno scoffed. He was doing _something_ alright, but certainly not _it_, much to his dismay. Gods, Tifa hadn't even really touched him yet, and now he may never get that sensation. And on top of all of that, he lost his best friend.

"Well, I'll just leave you here to mope like Cloud Strife," Elena said, knowing _that_ would cut Reno deeper than anything she could antagonize him with relating to Rude. Once she saw Reno's good eye twitch from holding back his emotions, she laughed and entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her just as Tseng had done.

Reno just had to wait up for Rude to come let him have it again. He stood up and walked over to the panoramic window that faced the harbor. The passenger ship was still docked, and he watched for Tifa to board. He watched for a few minutes before the captain blew the horn to signal the ship would be launching. He must have missed her.

He continued to watch as the ship slowly pulled away from the dock and began traveling to the other continent. A little panic settled into his gut as he found himself worrying about her. If she was alone, she could get hurt, and he was already beating himself up for not stopping that bullet. The next time she might need him he couldn't be there…

The door opened slowly behind him and he turned, expecting Rude to still be trembling with rage. Instead, the bald man looked as calm as ever. He didn't look at Reno, but the red-haired Turk kept his eyes trained back on Rude as he ambled into the kitchen, opened the fridge, pulled out the water filter, grabbed a glass, poured some water, returned the filter to the fridge and closed it, and then took a long sip from the glass, finishing with an "ah" of satisfaction.

Reno's good eye narrowed at his friend, who was clearly relishing the anticipation building up in the room. Rude brought his water glass into the living room and sat down on the couch where Reno had been sitting previously. At no time did he make eye contact with the redhead, who was still standing by the window.

"I saw her," Rude said after sitting in silence for several agonizing minutes.

"You… what?" Reno asked, worried that Rude had said something to Tifa that might… complicate his plans.

"I didn't talk to her. She didn't see me," Rude explained. "She was with that ninja girl. She looked… happy."

Rude's tone was neither pensive nor displeased. Reno decided talking right now might change that.

"I knew I couldn't make her happy," Rude continued. He then turned his head to look directly at Reno. "Don't hurt her."

Reno couldn't say for sure that he wouldn't. He found himself wanting to be around her constantly, but that was mainly due to his hormones. He couldn't say for sure he'd want to keep seeing her after a couple good screws. He'd never been in this position with a woman before. Usually he was already done with them. He knew he wasn't boyfriend material, but Tifa had "committed relationship" written all over her face. He couldn't live up to that.

"I don't want to," he said, half-lying. He was starting to find the idea of hurting her to be offensive, but he had no clue how he _couldn't_ disappoint her, if she did, indeed, have feelings for him. He let out a smirk, "Besides, Strife could come back at any moment and none of this will matter."

He hadn't realized how much that last sentence would sting until he actually said it. Whatever his feelings were for Tifa, it was not just the two of them in this pseudo-relationship. The chocobo-haired freak was always there, hovering over them. Reno could _feel_ Cloud's presence even when he was alone with Tifa. In the alley, the blond was next to them, silently judging, wishing he wasn't just a feeling so he could kick Reno's ass. Sure, it made Reno want to do even _worse_ things to Tifa, but he always knew he was just a temporary distraction.

He now hated that. _She_ was supposed to be a temporary distraction for _him_, but the tables had turned – and temporary had turned into six months so far.

Rude seemed on the brink of being pleased when Reno brought up Cloud.

"Are we gonna be okay?" Reno asked.

Rude sighed.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa gripped the railing along the deck of the cargo ship as it sped away from Junon. She hadn't made too many trips to the western continent since she and Cloud built their home in Edge, and now she was making her third voyage in as many months, though this was the first of the visits where she traveled by sea.

She looked toward Costa del Sol as the wind blew her hair and spritzed her face with seawater. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear to stop it from whipping her face and took a deep breath of fresh, salty air. She was still thinking about her brief encounter with Reno in Junon, feeling a pulse deep within her when she now thought of him pinning her to the wall and groping her. Just a few months ago she would have been horrified by the idea. She still found it frightening, but no longer just because of their former enemy status. The very thought of moving on from Cloud was terrifying. The thought of _enjoying_ anyone other than her former hero was downright devastating.

The air was filled with the sound of sea water crashing against the hull and the motor of the ship. But there was something else, too. Something that was ringing in Tifa's ears. Something she had recently managed to ignore until it just now flared back up. It was like this high-pitched blaring – like when a TV channel tested its emergency broadcast system.

"Who is it? Who is it? Who is it?"

There it was again.

Yuffie had pretty much not stopped asking that question once Tifa returned to the bar. Now that she was hearing it again, she was getting a piercing headache just behind her ears.

"Yuffie!" she yelled at last.

Tifa had thought the young girl would get bored, give up, or lose her voice, but clearly that was not the case.

"Just tell me who it was and I'll stop," Yuffie grinned.

"I… can't," Tifa sighed.

"Was it Rude?"

"Yuffie!"

The younger woman put her hands up defensively.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she said, resting her forearms on the railing and leaning over.

Her determination to find out who Tifa secretly met with had done wonders for her motion sickness, but now that she wasn't annoying her friend, she suddenly felt extremely queasy. She leaned over the railing, convinced she was about to yack.

What was that thing Cloud told her about motion sickness? Oh yeah, being nervous could prevent motion sickness. Well, that wouldn't help right now since she was already sick. He also told her to… move around a lot and stretch.

None of those things seemed doable right now, however. Yuffie knew if she took one step, she'd throw up all over the place. As it was, Tifa was inching away from her slowly.

At least that meant she would be quiet for the rest of the boat ride.

_Later…_

Night had fallen when the two women disembarked from the ship. They picked up Tifa's truck and parked it in a secure lot before heading to the villa. At least they had a free place to stay for the night before trekking to Cosmo Canyon the next day, and in a city so protected for tourists they wouldn't even have to worry about monster attacks.

Now Tifa wished she hadn't gone into the villa on Sunday to check for Cloud. She knew what she would find and now had the memory of deflated expectations in mind as she opened the door to let herself and Yuffie inside.

"Whew, this place has seen better days," Yuffie said, acknowledging the dust that covered everything in the entrance area. "Hey, wait, there are footprints in the dust!"

Tifa stiffened her spine and froze. Yuffie followed the footprints into the bedroom, taking notice of the finger trails on the dresser and a further trail to the far bed, which didn't have the same coating of dust as the other bed in the room.

"Someone has been here!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Recently!" She rushed out of the room back to where Tifa was standing. "Do you think it was Cloud?"

Tifa bristled at the mention of his name. She sighed, turning to her friend to explain.

"Cloud wasn't here," she said, defeated. "I was."

"You? But how?" Yuffie asked. The truck clearly hadn't been used for months and the Highwind was out of commission. Unless Tifa _walked_ there…

Tifa was in dangerous territory here. She didn't know what she could say that would satisfy Yuffie, at this point. Every answer seemed to be an avenue toward the young ninja learning about Reno.

"Barret and I came with Marlene," Tifa said cautiously. Yuffie put her hands on her hips and bent at the waist.

"Did _Barret_ fly you here, hmm?"

"Um, no… we went in his truck," at least it was plausible. He had _driven_ himself and Marlene to and from Edge. Hopefully that was enough to allay Yuffie's suspicions.

"So, if I call Barret right now, he'll say the same thing?" Yuffie asked, pulling out her PHS, flipping it open, and holding her thumb over the buttons, threatening to dial.

"….yes," Tifa couldn't stop lying. Reno was really having an effect on her.

"Well, let's just make sure," Yuffie grinned and pushed a button, then held the phone to her ear. Tifa could hear it ringing.

"Wait!" she called, reaching toward Yuffie, who pulled her phone out of Tifa's grasp. "It was Reno!"

"_Hello, you've reached Seventh Heaven. We can't come to the phone right now, so please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can, thanks_," Tifa heard her own voice say from the other end of Yuffie's phone.

She closed her eyes and flared her nostrils, cursing herself for falling for Yuffie's ruse. That was something Reno would have done.

"Reeeeee-no, huh?" Tifa could see the gears turning in Yuffie's head as her eyes looked to the ceiling. "Hmm, yeah, I can kind of see it, if you can get past the whole he-tried-to-kill-us and also he's a whore, thing."

Tifa chuckled before quickly realizing she was letting Reno's flaws slip past her. He hadn't given any indication that he had changed since she first met him, yet she seemed to be looking past the horrible, disqualifying things that continued to scream at her to back away. Stupid hormones. And stupid Cloud for leaving her to fall into the arms of the first man who gave her attention. Wait, no, she was sorry. It wasn't Cloud's fault.

But Reno wasn't trying to kill them anymore, unless the Turks were waiting for some moment to attack, which seemed unlikely given how easy it would be for the four of them to take on Tifa by herself. And Tifa hadn't seen Reno pick up a woman in Seventh Heaven since, well, since before Cloud left. It didn't mean he wasn't finding women elsewhere, but he wasn't bragging about it like he used to…

"Tell me _everything_," Yuffie demanded.

Tifa sighed again and lowered her head. Might as well come clean at this point. She walked over and sat at the small dining table just inside the entrance, with Yuffie close behind.

And so, she came clean. She told Yuffie how Reno and Rude had been helping her fight monsters, about the stitches, her dream…

"Wait, hold up, you had a" Yuffie leaned her head closer to Tifa and lowered her voice as if someone might hear them in the otherwise empty villa, "sex dream about Reno? How was he?!"

Tifa brought a hand up to cover her face as she blushed. This was _not_ a conversation she wanted to have, with anyone.

She told Yuffie about the dream and how she was embarrassed the next day when Reno pulled her onto his lap and then stole her phone and put his number in it. She told her friend about Reno's tendency to appear when she was alone, like in the alley behind her bar and in the mansion basement in Nibelheim. Yuffie had _lots_ of questions about what happened in Nibelheim.

"He did _that_ with his mag rod? How did it feel? How long did he have to use it on you? Can I buy one?" and others to that effect.

Tifa just shook her head and smiled at the memory. Now that she had a couple months to process it, she was actually hoping to experience that sensation again. Maybe Reno would let her borrow it (though she doubted he would let her use it without him present to watch).

"So, what else?" Yuffie prodded after exhausting herself of questions relating to the EMR.

Tifa groaned and continued. Just about everything she said regarding the night with Reno after her date with Rude elicited a "WHAT?" from Yuffie, begging for more details, as did Tifa's encounters with the red-headed Turk in Costa del Sol.

"He _flew_ you, Barret, and Marlene to a resort town?" Yuffie asked. "That's kinda romantic."

Tifa closed her eyes and shook her head again. Yuffie may have seen it that way, but Tifa saw it as Reno trying to bribe Marlene into liking him so maybe Tifa would sleep with him.

Tifa next told Yuffie about what happened between her and Reno in Junon just a few hours earlier. Her cheeks flushed as she spoke and heat pooled deep in her belly.

"That is SO hot," the younger woman kept saying.

Next came a dizzying array of questions about Reno that Tifa absolutely _did not_ want to answer.

"Was he cut? I bet he's super cut – and strong! So, did you see _it_? I bet it's big."

Tifa buried her face in her hands and contemplated how long it would take to dig a hole on the beach big enough for her to crawl into and hide.

"No, Yuffie, I haven't seen _it_."

"…_Yet_," Yuffie replied with a wink.

Tifa dropped her head to the table. This was the second-most humiliating conversation of her life, second only to the one Yuffie dragged her into after the ninja found out Tifa had slept with Cloud. Come to think of it, Yuffie had a lot of the same questions about Cloud then as she now did about Reno.

Tifa finished telling Yuffie about Reno breaking into her home, the flowers, and how he visited her in the hospital and would plant a kiss on her forehead, which Yuffie found _terribly_ romantic and a little pathetic.

"That's it?" Yuffie seemed ultimately disappointed.

Tifa's jaw dropped open. That wasn't enough?

The rest of their trip to Cosmo Canyon was spent with Tifa trying to answer as few questions as possible and Yuffie constantly coming up with more to ask, such as whether Tifa wanted to date Reno and when she would sleep with him.

The roads leading south from Costa del Sol and west to Cosmo Canyon were plagued with monsters, but Tifa was able to speed past most of them or let Yuffie slow them down with materia. Unfortunately, some managed to attack the truck, and Tifa knew she would find even more scratches and dents when she arrived at the Canyon than after they had traveled to Junon.

After she parked her truck at the base of the steps leading up to the city (and pushed a couple larger boulders near it in the hopes it wouldn't get further damaged), she turned to Yuffie and gave her friend a stern look.

"Yuffie!" she said to get the ninja to stop talking. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Who would I even tell? You think Nanaki or Cid want to hear about that?" she asked, extracting a nervous laugh from Tifa.

They were greeted at the stop of the steps by the same man who always managed the entrance to the Canyon. Even after all their trips, Tifa was embarrassed by the fact that she _still_ did not know his name. At this point, it was too late to ask.

"Hello, Miss Lockhart. Nanaki is waiting for you," he said, taking their bags for them.

He led them first to their hotel room and set down their belongings before taking them up to Bugenhagen's observatory where Nanaki was waiting. They didn't need the escort, but they were grateful nonetheless.

"Tifa! Yuffie!" Nanaki's voice broke into his natural tone as he cantered to the two women.

Yuffie knelt down to give him a hug and Tifa scratched him behind his ears.

"Hello, Nanaki," she said, bending over to his level and smiling.

"I'm so glad you're both here," Nanaki said eventually, reinstating his more dignified tone. "I think I've found something, come with me."

More walking. At least it wasn't too far. He led them into a large room they had never seen before on the top floor of the inner canyon. It was round, like most of the rooms and structures in Cosmo Canyon, but it was lined with shelves that were filled with books, most of which looked like they could be dozens, if not hundreds, of years old. The bottom three or four rows of shelves all around the room looked clean, but the higher shelves were covered with dust and cobwebs from lack of attention.

Upon entering the room, the women immediately noticed that it was not empty. Vincent Valentine stood with his back to them, holding a book that he was intently reading.

"Vincent!" the women said in unison.

After a few minutes of (awkward) silence, Vincent closed the book and clutched it back against his forearm before turning to face the rest of the group.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?" Tifa asked.

"He's found something," Nanaki informed her. The girls looked back to Vincent, expectantly.

"There was something in Hojo's research in the Shinra mansion that caught my eye," Vincent explained.

"But the Turks stole everything we found!" Tifa said, flapping her arms out to her side in exasperation.

"Ah but I kept this to myself," Vincent corrected. "I noticed it when we were searching, and after the Turks attacked us and gave up so easily, I figured they would try to steal what we found."

"So, you _let_ them take all our work?" Tifa asked. Maybe Vincent wasn't so dense after all.

"…Yes. It was worthless anyway. This notebook contains the useful information," he said, removing an old journal from the back of his waistband. "It appears Hojo _did_ inject some local monsters with Jenova cells and documented their reaction."

"What happened?" Yuffie asked.

"The monsters became much more aggressive," Vincent said. "Savage, really."

"Okay, that explains why they're so much stronger than before, but not why there are so many," Tifa mused.

"That's why I came here," Vincent replied. "The Elders of Cosmo Canyon have the foremost collection of data on the Lifestream."

"You think the Lifestream had something to do with this?" Yuffie asked.

"Perhaps," Nanaki answered. "The Lifestream did cover the planet when it defeated Meteor and Holy, it would make sense that it would inflict unknown consequences on the world."

"But, the Lifestream was Aerith!" Tifa interjected, her voice louder than she intended. She didn't want to think that the gift Aerith gave them actually caused its own damage.

"I know, but remember when you and Cloud were in the Lifestream?" Nanaki asked. Tifa nodded. "You were mostly unscathed, and Cloud only survived because you were there to help him. But remember before that, Cloud traveled through the Lifestream to Mideel. That, coupled with the Jenova cells and mako he already had in his system, nearly killed him."

Tifa didn't have to be reminded of that week.

"Each one of those elements had its own effect on Cloud, a human," Vincent explained. "We don't know what kind of effects it could have had on monsters – or those with Jenova cells injected into them."

"Wait," Tifa closed her eyes, her heart dropping. "Are you saying Cloud's headaches could have been caused by the calamity?"

"Cloud was having headaches?" Nanaki asked. Tifa nodded again, her eyes filled with concern and fear.

"Like the ones he had when I first found him in Sector 7."

"Weren't those the result of Sephiroth or Jenova calling him to the Northern Crater?"

Tifa suddenly looked desperate. "Do you think…?"

"Tifa, we don't know," Nanaki reassured her.

"Why would it take two years for all of this to happen?" Tifa asked.

"I'm not sure, but it may have been bubbling before this and is just now coming to a crisis," Nanaki mused. "I suspect it took some time to get their numbers up…"

"But why wouldn't humans be affected?" Yuffie asked.

"Well, we don't know they weren't," Nanaki said. "But I haven't exactly felt like walking up to people and asking if they were feeling more amorous than usual…"

Yuffie looked at Tifa as if this were an explanation for the barmaid's attraction to Reno. Tifa glared back at her friend and shook her head slightly. Yuffie shrugged.

"You've found nothing here yet?" Tifa asked.

Vincent shook his head.

"We still need to look at the books on the top shelves, but I'm interested to see what's in the other library," Nanaki said.

"Well, let's get to it then," Yuffie offered.

_Meanwhile…_

The four Turks were gathered inside Rufus' office in Junon. The relationship between Reno and Rude was still a bit icy, and there was a definite tension in the air, but Rufus was clearly choosing to ignore it along with Reno's clearly injured face.

They had been in Junon for days now, just twiddling their thumbs while Rufus did whatever it was he wanted to do. Reno had gotten antsy – and drunk – waiting for Rufus to stop talking to the Shinra scientists that were stationed in Junon and had survived Meteorfall. He knew that all four of them didn't need to be here, but Rufus wanted all the Turks with him nearly all the time now. Reno suspected he was becoming paranoid because nothing had actually happened to him or Shinra since the calamity.

Reno had been bored out of his mind, even more so because he was sticking to his plan of not contacting Tifa until he was sure Rude was okay. So, all he had were memories. He'd considered picking up some women at the bars in Junon, but he remembered what happened the last time he had done that to take his mind off Tifa. They weren't worth it.

"Are you with us, Reno?" Rufus asked.

The redhead realized his colleagues were all looking at him and that he had zoned out.

"You got it, boss," he said with a salute.

"Good," Rufus continued in an irritated tone. "I found something while going through Hojo's research and I wanted to bring it here to consult with our scientists."

Reno stifled a yawn. Normally Rude would be standing next to him to elbow him in the side when he got ornery at a meeting, but his best friend was next to Tseng today and avoiding eye contact.

"After multiple consultations – and some experiments – I'm confident that I have an idea about what's happening with the monsters of the world," Rufus continued. "Hojo had been conducting secret experiments in the basement of the old Shinra building. He didn't properly document what he was doing, but he did keep a personal notebook about the work."

Tseng shifted uneasily. The things Hojo properly documented were horrifying enough; he couldn't imagine what the man might be doing off the books.

"It seems Hojo was trying to come up with something more powerful than SOLDIER by injecting various monsters with Jenova cells, mako, or both," Rufus explained. "According to this journal, it looks like he started his research in Nibelheim—"

"—But we didn't find anything in that research," Reno interrupted.

"I'll get to that in a minute," Rufus said, nearly snarling. "It seems Jenova cells made them more aggressive, but mako rendered them rabid and, ahem, amorous."

The Turks looked stunned.

"What can we do about this?" Tseng asked, professional as always.

"We have a theory that the problem will take care of itself eventually," Rufus mused.

"But you're not convinced?" Tseng shifted his weight slightly.

"Hojo found that some species couldn't handle the injections and would die a horrible death due to disease," Rufus answered. "Based on what Rude and Reno have told me about some of the creatures they've encountered in Edge, I would say those species are taking care of themselves."

"But the others?" Rude piped up.

"We could wait it out, but I'm working to find a solution that can solve the problem quicker, however…" Rufus sighed with disappointment. "I suspect those AVALANCHE nuisances found something in Nibelheim that you didn't retrieve."

Reno and Rude looked at each other, their eyes narrowing (well, Reno's good eye). Rude's arms were already folded across his chest, and Reno followed suit. After all, _Rude_ was the one who decided to break into their hotel room and steal the research. Reno's job was distraction, and _he_ did his job just fine. He distracted the _hell_ out of Tifa that night, so much so that he was _still_ distracting her.

"Has there been any effect on humans?" Reno asked, getting Rufus' attention off of the Nibelheim caper. "I mean, we've all been injected with some level of mako, but we aren't violent and abnormally horny."

Rufus and the other three Turks stiffened at his word choices. Rude, Elena, and Tseng did look to Rufus for an answer, however.

"Well, first you'll have to remember that we were all in Midgar during the calamity and the Lifestream didn't pass through the city," Rufus explained. "But it also appears humans are immune from whatever the Lifestream caused, as SOLDIERs who were stationed in other parts of the world don't seem to have been affected."

Rufus paused, but no one else spoke.

"There's only one living human that we know of who was injected with Jenova cells," Rufus continued. "And as I'm sure you're all aware, Cloud Strife is currently missing."

Something sparked in Reno at that moment; a memory he had never given a second thought. He usually focused on the fun times and conversations with Tifa, but she at some point had mentioned something about Cloud.

_He didn't leave because of the headaches or nightmares, he just didn't want to be with me_.

Reno couldn't tell his colleagues about this since it would reveal Tifa had opened up to him and he didn't want to be used to get more information from her. It also wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, since the effect of the Lifestream on one single person wasn't a priority.

He looked away from Rufus thoughtfully as he contemplated whether he would even tell Tifa about this theory. If he did, she might think Cloud was suffering from the same problems as the world's monster population and Reno's careful plans would go to waste. _Shit_, he had to tell her, which meant he was going to lose her before he even had a chance.

"How can we stop the monsters from reproducing and lower their numbers all at once, around the world?" it was Elena's turn to finally ask a question. Her voice snapped Reno out of his thoughts.

"I need more time to work that out," Rufus responded. "The scientists here have a hunch, and I'm going to let them keep working on it. In the meantime, we're going back to Edge."

Reno held back his excitement, even though he didn't know whether Tifa would be back in town yet. Rude looked over at him when Rufus said they were returning home and furrowed his brow.

Once the Turks were back in their apartment and packing, Reno took out his phone. He figured Rude was _getting_ over it, so a simple text wouldn't be too devious. He couldn't tell her what he had learned over the phone or in messages, and depending on her response, he might not have much time to figure out how to word the information. Maybe Cloud really was done with her, which Reno found difficult to believe.

"Heading back to Edge. See you soon?" was all he sent.


	23. Shades Of Red

**A/N: Rated M for language and mild sexual content.**

Chapter 23:

The AVALANCHE members gathered in the Cosmo Canyon library had nearly searched the books placed on higher shelves, having found only a few that might hold information about the Lifestream's effects on living creatures.

Nanaki was already reading one of the books from the small pile the team had gathered from the dusty reaches of the library. His species (or maybe it was just him) was capable of reading faster than humans, and so the only sound in the library as Tifa, Vincent, and Yuffie searched was a rather steady stream of "Interestings" from Nanaki's mouth.

"This looks to be everything in here," Vincent said after replacing a book that nearly fell apart in his hands. "I think it's time to head to the other library."

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Finally, some action!" she added with a little dance.

Vincent and Tifa climbed down from their respective ladders to join Yuffie and Nanaki in the doorway.

"Ready?" Nanaki asked.

The others nodded and he led them out of the room and down to the vault door that led to the Cave of the Gi. Instead of looking for the alcove with the hidden switch that allowed passage further into the cave, however, Nanaki walked to the far end of the entrance and sniffed along the ground, then along the wall. The others watched him as his nose searched for something. Nanaki stood up on his hind legs, continuing to sniff the wall before he started moving to his right, stepping gently. Finally, he stopped and began pawing where he had just pressed his nose. Soon, the wall opened up as debris shook loose.

"Whoa!" Yuffie had been convinced he was smelling a solid wall.

As the others stepped toward the new opening, a group of Gi spectors flew at them, brandishing their spears. Tifa immediately swung a foot into one's ribcage, taking it out. Vincent was able to shoot three more in quick succession as Yuffie finished the final two with her Conformer.

There were surprisingly few attacks once they entered the hidden passage Nanaki had uncovered. "The Lifestream may not have been able to affect this place," Nanaki wondered aloud as they walked toward the library.

Of course, as soon as he said something a pair of hegs slithered up to the team. One wrapped itself around Vincent before he could get away and began constricting, as Tifa and Nanaki attacked it. Yuffie made quick work of its partner and joined the others to pry the second beast off of Vincent before he was squeezed to death.

Vincent fell to his knees to catch his breath while Tifa cast cure on him.

"Thank you," he said while gasping for air.

"Maybe I spoke too soon," Nanaki worried.

The tunnel they were in opened up into a large cavern shrouded in darkness except for the light from Nanaki's tail. He took the lead, since his eyes were better attuned to the dark.

"We're almost there," he said after a few minutes of walking in the dark.

Tifa suddenly felt a rush of wind across her back as if something ran past her.

"Ack!" Yuffie screamed, clearly getting knocked off her feet. "What the hell?"

Each looked around as they heard a distant skittering that seemed to move away from them, then to a far wall, and finally on the ceiling above them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Yuffie warned.

Tifa felt tiny drops of what she hoped was drool fall onto her shoulder. It singed her skin and caused her arm to tingle. Before she could use anything to remedy the pain, the group suddenly felt as though large poles dropped around them in four places.

They heard a loud hiss as Nanaki's tail lit up the largest stinger they had ever found in the canyon. It was at least twice the size of the ones they fought in the Cave of the GI, its body hovering maybe five feet above them. The creature cried out in pain as Yuffie's Conformer glanced off its body and cut a leg as it returned to her.

Vincent began shooting, though the beast's small body and narrow legs made it difficult for him to land a shot. Nanaki leapt into the air to tear at one of the creature's legs, gnawing near the base of it until he had managed to bite through. The stinger stumbled on its remaining three legs, allowing Tifa to uppercut its small body, which was hovering closer to the ground.

With one last wail, the stinger fell limply to the floor.

"I'm going to need some mouth wash," Nanaki joked after everyone was healed up.

They found their way to the cave library and secured the door behind them.

"This is where the Elders stored their most sacred texts," Nanaki informed them.

A soft orange glow lit up the room, though there was no discernible source. It allowed plenty of light for the group to start searching the small library. The three walls without the door contained bookshelves but were not filled with many books. Another two rows of shelves lined the middle of the small room and were stuffed with literature.

"More reading, yay," Yuffie grumbled sarcastically.

Searching through the books was much easier than trying to read through Hojo's research, as the books generally had titles on their covers and tables of contents. Nanaki, of course, wanted to read everything he found to gain a greater knowledge of the world, but resigned himself to reading only what was necessary at the moment.

"This looks promising," Tifa said as she pulled a book with a green leather cover from one of the shelves. It was called "The Lifestream's Unknown Gifts," and she flipped open the cover to find the table of contents. A chapter called "Terrestrial Lifeforms" caught her attention.

She began mumbling as she read, using her finger absentmindedly to keep her place.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I think this is it. 'In 1387, an earthquake brought forth a pool of Lifestream. Numerous fauna fell into the pool and needed rescue. Some of the creatures died of some unknown disease, but the survivors were known to villagers long after as troublemakers and degenerates.'"

She brought the book over to Nanaki so he could study it further.

"Interesting!" he said as he placed his front paws on the pages to hold the book open on the floor, his tail wagging softly. "So, one need not be _injected_ with Mako to be affected, or at least, that is the case with beasts."

Nanaki continued reading the book as the others (who were better able to search the shelves anyway) continued looking.

There was no PHS reception inside the canyon, so when Tifa started to yawn she couldn't tell whether she was tired of the search or genuinely tired due to the time.

"Are we camping out here or should we head back for the night?" she asked when she saw Yuffie nodding off.

"I don't really sleep," Vincent said.

"Bullshit, you slept for 30 years when we found you!" Yuffie countered, suddenly energetic.

"Anymore," Vincent added.

"I'm also too excited to sleep, but if you two want to head back I can go with you. I'd just like to take some of these books back with us so I can look through them tonight," Nanaki offered.

"Agreed," Tifa said.

The two women scooped up the half-dozen books the team had collected and followed Nanaki out of the library. They nearly tripped over the corpse of the stinger trying to navigate the darkened cavern but weren't attacked by anything else until they returned to the tunnel between the cavern and the Cave of the Gi. A pack of sneaky steps attacked them outside the tunnel in the entrance to the cave, but their emaciated state made them easy to defeat.

Back on the other side of the vault, Tifa and Yuffie followed Nanaki up to Bugenhagen's observatory to set the books down on his small table.

"Come get me in the morning when you wake up," Nanaki said as he bid the women goodnight.

Yuffie stretched her arms up over her head once they were out of the observatory.

"Man, I am _soooo_ tired! All those hours searching through dusty old books is really boring," she said.

"It's important, Yuffie," Tifa chided gently.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you just want this to be over so you can get back to _Reee-no_," the ninja added, making a kissing face.

"Absolutely not!" Tifa insisted, perhaps a little too forcefully.

When they were back in their hotel room, Tifa's PHS buzzed.

"I bet that's him!" Yuffie said excitedly.

Tifa rolled her eyes and opened her phone. Yuffie was right, but Tifa didn't want _her_ to know that. It actually looked like the text hadn't come through since they arrived in Cosmo Canyon the night before. It wasn't surprising, the rock formations of the canyon and the lack of a reception tower made connection within the city difficult. Their hotel room had a window, which seemed to be the only reason they were able to get reception now.

"Heading back to Edge. See you soon?"

The date on the message was for the previous day.

So, Reno was back in Edge. At least Tifa knew that even when she got back and Yuffie left she wouldn't be alone, even though she really had to figure out how to be okay by herself. She never thought she relied on anyone before, but ever since Cloud left and she felt alone, she realized she had _always_ relied on other people. She lived with AVALANCHE and then traveled with them for months and had been with Cloud after Meteorfall.

This was the first time she was truly alone in her life, and she hated it.

"Still a couple days out," she texted back.

She stared at her phone for a few minutes before realizing the time difference meant it was probably the early morning hours back in Edge. Reno was probably still asleep. Tifa put her phone under her pillow and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up to discover another text, sent a few hours earlier. Had she been drinking water, she would have choked on it when she opened the message.

"Something to think about until then ;)" the message read.

Attached was an image that instantly made Tifa's insides jump. It was clearly a photo of Reno, but the camera was angled to show the distance between his belly button and belt buckle. He had a thumb hooked behind his belt to pull his waistband down a bit, giving a clear picture of the line of hair from his belly to… below his belt. Tifa could also see one side of his Adonis Belt and his lower abs.

She had to keep herself from squeaking so Yuffie wouldn't get wise. Thankfully, the young ninja was a surprisingly heavy sleeper and didn't even stir.

Tifa grabbed her phone and took it in to the bathroom with her while she got ready. Her lower abdomen filled with heat and felt as though it was doing somersaults each time she looked at the picture.

_"I guess that red hair is natural," _she said as she studied the picture. She was suddenly feeling an intense need to touch that trail of pubic hair… and see where it leads.

Tifa was rather perky that morning as she waited for Yuffie to finish getting ready so they could meet Nanaki and head back to the library, and the young ninja took notice.

"You're too perky today," she said as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "Be less enthusiastic."

Tifa just smiled as her friend reached for the coffee pot. It wasn't every day _Yuffie_ thought someone was being too energetic, and Tifa knew she needed to calm her hormones before anyone caught on. Yuffie took a couple sips of coffee before speaking again.

"Okay, now that _I'm_ awake, you wanna tell me about your little texty text?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Tifa was really bad at hiding her emotions.

"Oh please, you're as red as Reno's hair!"

Tifa blushed further.

"So, what'd he say?" Yuffie asked.

"N-nothing," Tifa stammered.

"SO IT WAS A PICTURE?"

"NO" but it was too late.

Yuffie was lunging for Tifa's PHS like it had the secret to immortality stored on it. Tifa was taller than Yuffie, so she held the phone as high in the air as she could. Yuffie jumped up to reach it a few times but Tifa kept moving it away from her. Yuffie suddenly got a devilish grin and tickled Tifa under her arm, causing her to lower the phone while defending herself.

Yuffie grabbed the device and ran into the bathroom with Tifa right at her heels. She slammed the door and locked it as Tifa screamed at her and pounded on the door.

"I already know you're out there, it's not going to work," the younger woman said.

She flipped open the phone and found the photo.

"HOLY SHIT TIFA!" the bartender heard from the other side of the door.

Tifa leaned her head against the wall and frowned. She could only imagine how _she_ would feel if _Rude_ stole Reno's phone to look at a picture of her, even one that didn't show anything too scandalous.

Yuffie opened the door and tossed Tifa the PHS, making a comment about the "carpet matching the drapes."

"I'd be in a good mood too if I woke up to _that_," the ninja added.

Tifa rubbed her hands over her face and groaned. All the enthusiasm she had for this day was suddenly gone. But at least Yuffie wouldn't be able to tease her anymore once they rejoined Nanaki.

"You're in a good mood this morning, Tifa," Nanaki commented when they entered the observatory.

Yuffie stifled a laugh and Tifa tried to keep from turning red.

"Just positive we'll find something good today," Tifa answered.

They were again attacked by some Gi spectors and hegs as they returned to the library but the creatures didn't put up nearly as much fight as Tifa remembered from the first time they were in the Cave of the Gi all those years ago. Like the mansion in Nibelheim, the Cave of the Gi was one of her most unpleasant memories from her journey with AVALANCHE. She remembered constant attacks, made all the worse by not knowing there was a switch in one of the dark alcoves that would allow them to proceed further. She remembered Cloud going into each one expecting to find something, only to find a switch that called _another_ monster to attack them.

And then there were the oil spills and stingers. She thought back to Cloud having to grab Aeris by the arm after she slipped on the oil and nearly rammed herself into the spiked wall. Tifa herself nearly fell off the path and into the lava. A stinger came within an inch of killing Cloud before Aeris was able to use her Healing Wind on him. All around, just a terrible experience.

At least this time around she knew what was lurking in the cave, and they didn't have to deal with the puzzle or the oil. Nanaki again opened the secret door on the far wall that led to the library. When they reached the room, they found Vincent standing in almost the exact same place as they had left him.

"Geez did you even _move_?" Yuffie asked.

Vincent continued to read. He may not have heard what Yuffie said, or he was just that adept at ignoring people. After a few moments he closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then moved to a different area to keep searching.

"The back wall is done," he said, motioning to a few books he had stacked on the floor near the entrance.

"Great!" Nanaki said. He moved toward the pile and opened one up to read.

"So, did you learn anything from the books you read last night?" Tifa asked, looking through the books on one of the free-standing shelves in the middle of the room.

"Quite a bit, actually," the red beast responded. "It appears the presence of the Lifestream altered the hunting and mating patters of most of the species on earth. As you discovered, Tifa, some species are dying from the contact, but others are thriving."

"Okay, so what can we do about all the attacks in town" Yuffie asked.

"For the most part it looks like we just have to keep fighting and eventually there will be fewer monsters," Nanaki answered.

"That's it! We just have to wait it out?" Yuffie was not pleased.

"Well, I found something in one of the books that might have a clue," Nanaki continued. "Apparently, something similar happened thousands of years ago after Jenova landed and the planet tried to heal itself."

"The texts go back that far?" Vincent inquired.

"The book I read was not that old but had apparently been written based on historical documents from the Cetra. If you'll recall, Jenova disguised itself as a Cetra and poisoned them with its own cells, turning them into monsters."

The others stared at Nanaki with anticipation.

"Which means many of the monsters in the world today still contain Cetra and Jenova cells within them. The Lifestream appears to be interacting with those cells."

"Wait, I'm confused," Tifa said, holding up her hand. "So, the only ones affected are those with Cetra or Jenova cells?"

"I believe so," Nanaki said.

Tifa's eyes began to well up with tears. "So, Cloud's disappearance really is probably due to what happened two years ago…"

"That looks to be the case now. Also remember, that if any part of Jenova still exists, Jenova can influence the creature."

"That was Hojo's 'Reunion Theory,'" Vincent noted.

"Exactly."

"But we defeated Jenova, and Sephiroth!" Tifa insisted.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like we cleared Jenova cells from the planet," Nanaki said.

"Is there a way to do that?" Vincent asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly. If I don't find anything more in the books here, I think our next place to search would be the Forgotten Capital."

Tifa closed her eyes. So many thoughts were swirling around in her head right now. What Nanaki said made sense on some level, but it didn't seem like there was much anyone could do. She just spent days traveling to Cosmos Canyon and searching the libraries there, she wasn't exactly looking forward to another lengthy trip to the Forgotten Capital. She… missed her bar and maybe even Reno. On the other hand, Cloud was traveling to Aeris' resting place near the city of the Ancients, so maybe she could find him there.

"Can I return to Edge before we set off for the Forgotten Capital?" Tifa asked. Nanaki looked at her, puzzled at first, but then he seemed to understand.

"Yes, that would be fine. We don't have to leave right away, though I wouldn't want to wait too long. Why don't we all take a week to gather supplies?"  
"Maybe the Highwind will be fixed by then," Yuffie hoped. She certainly was _not_ looking forward to anymore boat or car rides. Not that the Highwind was any different, but at least it was quicker.

"Maybe," Nanaki mused.

_Meanwhile…_

At least Junon had been a change of pace. Now the Turks were just wasting time in their office each morning and patrolling Edge each afternoon. And Seventh Heaven was closed so there wasn't even anything to look forward to. Reno had been tapping his fingers on his desk for way longer than even he realized.

"Could you _stop_ that, _please_?" Elena said in a way that made it clear she was leveling out a command, not a request.

"I'm your superior, you can't tell me what to do," Reno barked back at her. He had no qualms about stopping his finger-tapping, he just didn't like when Elena used _that_ tone with him.

"Reno, stop annoying Elena," Tseng said from inside his office. He had ears like a bat.

Elena rotated around in her chair to give Reno a childish "haha you got in trouble" look that he did not appreciate. He narrowed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. King of the playground.

Reno stopped tapping his fingers but started humming just to get back under Elena's skin. It also covered up the sound of him flipping his phone open to check for a response from Tifa (he had sent that photo hours ago, and even though she was in Cosmo Canyon, he felt she should have responded by now) and then closing it again. His relationship with Rude was improving each day, but he still felt a little guilty when he texted Tifa.

He also figured that things were only improving because Tifa was out of town. Would Rude still want to go to Seventh Heaven every night knowing that Reno could be scoring with the woman he still idolized? Reno didn't think Rude had moved on from Tifa completely; after all, it had only been a few days.

Her last text said she wouldn't be in town for a few days. He hoped Rude would forgive him completely by then but seeing Tifa might change things. Now Reno had to _really_ look like he was a nice guy, not just to lure Tifa into bed, but to keep Rude from kicking his ass for hurting her. He was in too deep now.

"Reno? Rude?" Tseng said from his office. "Go upstairs, Rufus wants to talk to you."

Reno looked at Rude with a "now what?" expression on his face, but the bald man looked just as confused (well, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, which was as much confusion as Rude was capable of showing). They each stood up and quietly walked out of the Turks' office.

"What do you suppose he'll have us do now?" Reno asked with his hands on the back of his head.

"Probably needs a coffee," Rude said.

Reno guffawed and smacked Rude in the shoulder. "You got your sense of humor back, buddy!"

"Yeah, brushing up on my comedy routine," Rude said in a monotone voice.

They entered Rufus' office a moment later without stopping to check in with the secretary first. Rufus was standing up while on the phone and held one finger up to them.

"Thank you, that will be all," Rufus said to the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up. He continued to stand and rested his knuckles on his desk to lean over it, peering at the two Turks in front of him. "I need you two to start surveilling AVALANCHE again."

"Why?" Rude asked.

"It seems some of them were spotted recently in Cosmo Canyon," Rufus began. "I think they're continuing to search for an explanation to the monster problem."

"So? What if they are?" Reno asked a little indignantly.

"I told you, Shinra needs to be the ones to save the world. We can't have them getting in our way."

"Okay, but, what if, like, we _teamed up_ with them, yanno?" Reno suggested. "They're the 'planet saviors' after all. Helping them would still help Shinra."

Rufus seemed to ponder his suggestion for a moment, much to Reno's genuine surprise.

"You're right, Reno," he said after a while.

Reno wasn't used to hearing that from Rufus, or anyone, really. He knew he was right. He was right about a lot of things, but because he was Reno, people didn't seem to want to give him credit. Pfft.

"I am?"

Rude looked shocked as well (again, in his own Rude way).

"I want you two to start surveilling the barmaid. She's apparently traveling back from Cosmo Canyon now. She seems to be at the center of their activities. Follow her. Find out who she's talking to and where she's going. And report back."

"Just surveil, sir?" Reno asked, eliciting a knowing glance from Rude.

"I still want Shinra to end the world's problems this time, but" he lowered his head and signed, "if it looks like AVALANCHE will beat us to it, we should join with them to increase our own stature."

"So, leech off their popularity?"

"It was _your_ idea, Reno."

"Sounds good, boss," Reno said. "We'll see what we can squeeze out of her."

Rude shot him a decidedly malicious look that Rufus didn't notice. Reno just _had_ to try his luck. The two Turks headed for the door.

"What a perfect assignment for you," Rude said with a hint of envy.

"Hey man, this is great!" Reno enthused. "No more desk duty. No more patrol. We get to stalk someone in the shadows and _drink_ all night – for work!"

Rude shrugged his shoulders.

Reno could feel his phone buzz in his pocket once they returned to their office.

"So, what's the new assignment?" Elena inquired. While she was glad to have them out of the office again so she could be alone with Tseng, it still meant she was forced to do boring work rather than the more devious tasks a Turk was to perform.

"Surveilling Tifa," Rude said plainly.

"Haven't you been doing that for years?" Elena asked, as innocently as she could muster.

Rude was not amused.

"Too soon?" she asked with a rueful smile.

Reno plopped down in his desk chair and pulled out his phone.

"1 text message from Tifa"

The words made his heart skip a beat. That was new. Should probably see a doctor. Probably smoking too much. Yeah, that was it.

"Nice photo. Be home in two days," it said.

She really needed to work on her flirting. Reno decided at that moment he would help her with that when she got back.

**End notes: So, even I wasn't expecting the Forgotten Capital trip. It just kind of came out while I was writing this chapter. I figured out how it will all fit in thought, and that means we are just a few chapters away from Cloud returning! I've had his return planned out since the beginning. I think you'll enjoy it.**


	24. Definitely A Bad Decision

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Seriously, if you don't like reading sexual scenes, do NOT read further.**

Chapter 24:

It was good to be back in her own bed again. As much as it was nice to be with half the remaining members of AVALANCHE, nothing ever quite felt like sleeping in a bed that was all her own. Tifa hadn't had her own bed since the plate fell on Sector 7, spending the next few months living in hotel rooms and tents – and that one stranger's house in Lower Junon. She became accustomed to falling asleep in a variety of places and under a variety of conditions.

Sometimes the hotels were noisy, like in The Gold Saucer. Sometimes they were freezing, like in Icicle Inn. The rooms in Mideel were too muggy, and she could never get a good night's sleep in Nibelheim due to the nightmares and eeriness of the whole town.

And now that she had gotten used to her own bed – queen size, plush mattress, warm blankets – she found it more difficult to sleep fully elsewhere. Sure, she slept in Cosmo Canyon, but the air was dry and the furniture creaked like she was in a log cabin in the woods. It was a fitful sleep.

She almost immediately crashed when her and Yuffie returned the night before. Her beautiful truck had gotten pretty banged up on the trip and she would have to find someone to get the dents out. Tomorrow. She usually unpacked when she got home – had to keep her home constantly clean – but this time she just came upstairs, changed into pajamas, brushed her teeth, and collapsed on her bed. She didn't even know whether Yuffie stayed the night or decided to leave immediately.

She slept clear into Sunday, so it wasn't like she had to open the bar that night. She kind of _wanted_ to open the bar since she'd been gone so long (and a certain redhead might appear) but she decided it was better to stick to the schedule and use this day to unpack and relax after an exhausting trip. It was already the afternoon when she first fluttered her eyes open to find herself in a well-lit room, gripping her pillow as if she were hugging another person. Cloud.

In the old days she would have gladly left Cosmo Canyon and gone immediately to the Forgotten Capital, but back then she didn't have a business to run (thanks to Reno). She had nowhere to go and AVANLANCHE was her family. Now, however, she was alone and had responsibilities to, well, to her patrons, at least.

She had to be back in Cosmo Canyon in a week. She wasn't looking forward to making the trip again and really hoped the Highwind would be fixed by then so she wouldn't have to drive through the mountains to Junon, take the cargo ship to Costa del Sol, and then drive to the Canyon. Would she then have to drive everyone to the Forgotten Capital? Two people would have to sit in the bed of the truck, which would be almost as unpleasant as walking.

She knew Cloud could ride his bike all the way to the lost city of the Ancients, but that was much faster than her truck and Cloud never seemed to get tired of his vehicle. He could probably make the trip in a single day since he didn't like stopping to rest.

Which concerned her deeply. He _should_ have gotten to the Forgotten Capital and back by now. He was looking for "forgiveness," but he should have found that by now, right? A month and a half? So many things could have gone wrong. He could have thrown away his phone to start a new life away from AVALANCHE and… her. He could be injured or worse. Or maybe the Jenova cells in him were influencing his behavior again like they did two years ago.

She hugged the pillow to her chest a little tighter and scrunched her eyes to stop the tears. None of those possibilities were good for Cloud or for her.

_Time to get up, Tifa_.

Tifa shot up and looked around frantically. She could have _sworn_ she just heard Aeris' voice reassuring her. Nah, that was crazy, right?

Well, she was awake now, might as well look decent. She stretched her arms and yawned as if to greet the day – or afternoon – and walked into the bathroom. By now she was overanalyzing the last text she sent to Reno. It was so… clinical. He was clearly trying to flirt (or something) and she responded with "Nice photo" and an itinerary. The more she thought about it on the trip home, the more she wished she had said something more flirtatious, like "Oh, natural redhead?" or even sent a photo of her own. She'd never done something like that and wasn't anxious to start with _Reno_ since he'd probably share it at work or do something mortifying like posting it on a billboard somewhere.

She'd never _had_ to do something like that before. She lived with Cloud. He was never away from her for too long, so if they were feeling romantic, they could just act it out in person. And they certainly did, at first. Somehow putting Cloud's conscious back together reset his hormones back to when he was a teenager. He would paw her back then. She couldn't walk past him without him pulling her in for a kiss or grabbing her ass or trying to tickle her. He'd join her in the shower, in the back room of the bar, even in her truck (while it was in the garage, of course). Years of pent up… aggression… seemed to pour out of him. Tifa found herself sore for days on end, but her love for him made her want him just as much.

She just hoped that Nanaki was wrong about the Jenova cells. Cloud had fought the influence before and lost several times. Tifa couldn't imagine what he was going through right now, all alone, possibly injured.

She stepped into the shower and felt the heat soothe her aching muscles. Sleep had helped, but days of fighting had taken its toll. Maybe she was getting old… at 22. No, that wasn't it. She wasn't just dealing with physical pain, but emotional turmoil as well. And it wasn't the jealousy and guilt she felt while chasing Sephiroth now, either. It was fear, concern, confusion, anger, and a number of other emotions she couldn't explain relating to Cloud _and_ Reno.

The text she sent him probably made him think she wasn't interested. But she at least answered, right? She hadn't done that at first… and he probably still remembered their encounter in Junon, though she figured he'd probably been with a handful of women in the time since.

She turned off the water and dried off, wrapping a towel around her long, wet hair. She wrapped herself in her red satin bathrobe and strolled into the kitchen for coffee.

"Now who's the late sleeper?" Yuffie asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

Tifa nearly jumped out of her skin. She should have known Yuffie was still in the house, but she was surprised nonetheless.

"It was a long week," Tifa replied, picking up the coffee pot and pouring herself a cup.

"Gonna see Reno soon?"

"Heading back to Wutai soon?" Tifa retorted, taking a sip from her mug.

Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I can tell you want the place to yourself," she said with a wink.

Tifa groaned.

"How did you even get here, anyway?"

"Ninja powers," Yuffie said, demonstrating with a few quick air punches.

Tifa just shook her head. Yuffie seemed to traverse the world rather quickly for someone who didn't have a car or airship and who was prone to motion sickness. Tifa decided against pressing further. Let Yuffie have her secret.

"I was planning on heading home in a little bit, just gotta get packed," Yuffie offered after a few moments of silence.

"Take your time, I didn't mean to make it seem like I was kicking you out."

"I know, don't worry."

At least the ninja could take a joke.

True to her word, Yuffie left not too long after she finished her coffee, showered and dressed, and packed. Tifa waved goodbye from her front door as the young woman trotted off down the street with a backpack and her satchel of materia, which she didn't even use in Cosmo Canyon.

Tifa closed the door to her bar and leaned back against it, resting the back of her head against the wood. She had the rest of the day to herself and was actually looking forward to being alone this time. She unpacked and cleaned her apartment and the bar and checked the inventory. She would need to put in an order for some supplies but could manage a few days.

She was out of the Turks' favorite scotch, but she didn't feel like fighting today. She'd grab it tomorrow on her way back from the theater.

She flopped back on her couch after everything was put in order, still tired from the trip home. As soon as she hit the fabric, she felt the familiar buzz of her phone.

"1 text message from Reno"

It's like he always _knew_ when she was lying down.

"Home yet, babe?" it said.

Tifa considered answering. Then she considered _not_ answering because she hated when he called her "babe."

In the end, she figured she would nap on it.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno was sitting in a bar (no surprise) with Elena and Rude, trying to figure out how he could broach the subject of surveilling Tifa without making Rude uncomfortable. The red-haired Turk was holding his tumbler up off the table and staring into the amber liquid inside, swirling it gently as if it was telling him the answer.

If it were up to him, they'd start working today, even though it was technically their day off. Did Turks _really_ have a day off? He couldn't just _suggest_ that to Rude, as it would look too obvious that he wanted to be around her. It might even look like he _liked_ Tifa, and he couldn't have that. But he did really want to see her. It had been a pretty agonizing week in Junon and then back in Edge while she was still away.

By Friday he couldn't take it anymore and went to a bar near his apartment. He picked up a woman easily, but for the first time in his life he couldn't follow through (not like that). He had taken the woman by the wrist after whispering in her ear, and she followed willingly. But when he led her outside into an alley (now _this_ was a woman he could take in an alley), he lost his nerve. Her mouth tasted like alcohol, cigarettes, and mint gum. Now, Reno was aware that he usually tasted that way, and most of the women he _usually_ picked up tasted that way, but for some reason on this night it made him sick. He pulled back from the woman and without apologizing or explaining or saying _anything_, he just left her in the alley and walked home to take a cold shower.

He considered faking an illness and starting the job himself, but he knew Rude would get suspicious. He might be able to get away with that once everyone parted, but for now he'd have to wait. He _hated_ waiting.

He wasn't even sure if Tifa was back in town, to be honest. He sent that text a few hours ago but she hadn't responded yet. He also couldn't tell Rude and Elena that he _knew_ when she would be back in town because, well, they didn't _know_ he had her number.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and send a little thrill up his leg. He slowly moved his other hand off the table to remove his phone from his pants without Rude or Elena noticing. He then pushed off ever so slightly from the table and hunched his back further to create a larger gap between his torso and the table. Holding his phone between his legs, he took a sip from his scotch and opened his PHS.

"1 text message from Tifa"

He tried to stifle a smile and took another sip as he pressed a button to open the message. He and Rude had gone to Seventh Heaven each night since Rufus gave them the assignment, but each time it had been closed.

"Missing my tan lines?"

Clever girl.

No matter what she said, it got him flustered. His mild sunburn had disappeared (at least Tifa didn't get to see much of _that_), but he now worried the other Turks would see him turn red after reading her text.

Rude seemed lost in thought. Elena seemed distracted by her phone. Who could _she_ be texting? Reno considered snatching her phone, but worried she'd return the favor. He was faster than her, but she had nails and didn't hesitate to use them.

He checked his watch: 7:30. Too early to suggest calling it a night. They were Turks, they _should_ be working surveillance right now.

"Think we should swing by Seventh Heaven to see if she's back?" Rude asked.

_Oh thank God._

Reno took another swig from his drink. Had to look like he was disinterested or too lazy. He yawned and stretched his arms up over his head before bringing his hands to rest on the back of his neck.

"Eh, might as well," he said nonchalantly.

Rude eyed him carefully, knowing Reno was putting on a show for his sake. He thought he'd gotten over the whole Reno-Tifa thing in the past week, but he realized it was just because she wasn't around. Now he felt that white-hot jealousy welling up inside him as they paid their tabs. Elena… didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Who ya textin'?" Reno baited, leaning over to try and look at her phone.

"N, no one!" Elena said, a bit too defensively.

Reno had his suspicions but decided to leave it alone so he and Rude could get away. He tossed down some extra gil to cover Elena's tab so she could continue with whatever she was doing.

Reno and Rude stopped when they were nearing Seventh Heaven.

"You take the front and the side, I'll take the back," Reno told Rude.

The bald Turk nodded his head in agreement and kept to the shadows as he approached the front of the bar. The lights were off downstairs, but Rude could see a soft glow emanating from the upstairs windows. He tried to appear casual as he rounded the corner, knowing she couldn't see him and not wanting to appear suspicious to anyone brave enough to be out on the streets.

He approached one of the windows of the bar and peered in, able to see inside somewhat thanks to a nearby streetlight. Nothing. Everything appeared in place for closing – the chairs were upside down on the tables, the liquor bottles were all facing forward, the glasses were all racked. Rude continued on down the street to meet up with Reno in the back alley.

Reno made it to the back alley and looked up at a lighted window upstairs. He had been able to climb up to the second floor a couple weeks ago to get into her bedroom, but that window was now dark – and closed. He was now looking up at the window that was next to her bedroom, calculating his moves. He could climb up to the bedroom window no problem and it looked like he might be able to climb across to the window he now stood under. It was worth a shot.

He navigated his way up to the bedroom window and hung there for a moment with his toes pressed against the wood siding. It was rough enough that he wouldn't slip, and he started to sidle over to the next window.

When he got ahold of the windowsill, he let his legs drop so that he was hanging. Couldn't chance her seeing him outside. He listened a moment for any sounds coming from inside but heard none. He slowly began to pull himself up to see inside the window. He was able to see into her living room, and noticed immediately that it was a good thing he hadn't let Rude take the back alley.

Tifa was lying on her couch looking away from the window. She was wearing her standard tank top and mini skirt and had one knee bent upwards. She held her phone in her hands slightly above her head and Reno could see that she had his picture up on her screen. He grinned. Her text about it being a "nice photo" was clearly an attempt to be coy.

Reno continued to stare at her, hopefully he'd get to see her do something with the photo (he was already imagining it in his head), but she just looked at it for a while. He dropped back to the alley below and swiped his hands together to clear the dirt he had collected. He still had that grin on his face when he met up with Rude.

"She home?" the bald man asked.

"Yep," Reno responded. "She's just chilling upstairs, yo, playin' on her phone."

He bit the insides of his cheeks to keep from smiling so wide his teeth showed. Surely Rude would see them in the moonlight.

"So?"

"So?"

"Let's get to it," Rude said.

Reno smiled and nodded. He loved this part. He buried his hands in his pockets and walked around to the side of the bar, helping Rude check the windows as they went. All were locked. Reno's ego told him it was because of him, and he was proud. No problem for the Turks. Rude turned to Reno and sighed.

"Can you get in?"

Reno could tell it pained Rude to ask that question, but he was a consummate professional. So, Rude hadn't completely forgiven him, but at least Reno had an opening.

"I can try," Reno said, trying to make it seem like he didn't think it was possible.

He pulled out his phone and sent her a text.

"And now we wait," he said, lacing his fingers behind his head.

Rude folded his arms across his chest and lowered his head. He wanted to know how long Reno and Tifa had been texting, but he was trying to forgive his friend and move on. Still, it stung.

He heard Reno's phone vibrate. The slender redhead opened the device and checked eagerly.

"She said the bar opens tomorrow," Reno said glumly.

Rude snorted in amusement. Perhaps there wasn't as much between them as he thought.

"Works for me," Rude said.

He had actually hoped Reno wouldn't be invited in. He wasn't sure he could handle that just yet. Tomorrow would be better anyway; they could unlock a window while in the bar and come back later to easily get inside and bug the place. He really didn't want to break a window, it'd be too obvious.

"Call it a night?" Reno asked as he shoved his hands back into his pockets and hunched over.

Rude checked his watch. Still pretty early, but an early night never killed anyone.

"I suppose," he said as the pair started walking away from Seventh Heaven.

Reno pulled out a cigarette and lit it up as they came to place where they typically separated.

"When do you want to meet up tomorrow?" he asked.

"Nine," Rude said stiffly. "Bartenders are not on a normal schedule."

"Sounds good, buddy, see you then," Reno said, giving Rude a pat on the back.

The two parted ways and Reno started walking toward his home. Once he turned a corner and was sure Rude would be too far away, he turned around and trotted back toward Seventh Heaven, skillfully avoiding some dying guard dogs looking for a fight.

He arrived back at Tifa's bar within minutes, making sure he wasn't being followed, and knocked on the front door. He pulled out his phone and sent her a text: "Downstairs, yo."

He hated lying to Rude, but he needed to see her. Spending a full week away from her was just too hard at this point. He supposed it was because other women just couldn't satisfy him anymore.

Tifa had been fine on her own that day. She didn't spend it wallowing in loneliness. But when a text from Reno came while she was looking at his picture, she was excited just enough to make what she knew she would come to see as a bad decision.

She opened the door to find Reno leaning against the outside frame, one arm resting on the wood above his head, his right ankle crossed over his left; his whole demeanor easy and detached.

"Hey babe," he said coolly, casually tossing the butt of his cigarette out of view.

"Hello," Tifa responded in a warm tone to deflect his relaxed attitude.

Standing there, he could have been modeling for some expensive suit company – the perfectly tailored fit of the jacket and pants, his shirt unbuttoned down to his chest, and the wild, untamed red hair moving gently in the night breeze. His facial expression, however, was unexpected, as he looked disinterested; like it had been a burden for him to come over.

Tifa brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, nervous that his behavior toward her had changed. Reno took a few steps toward her, glancing around the bar like he expected to find someone else inside. Tifa was forced to step back out of his path as he ignored her. His gaze then met hers and suddenly he lifted his hands up to her face to bring her lips to his in an aggressive kiss.

"Dammit, yo, I can't go a week without touching, er, _seeing_ you," he said.

Nice save.

She smiled her trademark simple, sweet smile as her nerves calmed. He couldn't keep up a façade around her for too long.

Reno spun on his heel, aided by the smooth floor, and walked to the bar to sit on his usual stool. Tifa instinctually strolled – nearly skipping – to her place behind the bar as if he were just a customer and she were just his bartender. She absentmindedly reached for his favorite bottle of scotch before realizing she was out. She whipped around, leaning against the liquor cabinet with her hands gripping its counter.

"I'm sorry, I'm out of your scotch," she said.

Reno's scotch. He and Rude were the only ones willing to shell out the money to drink it, but suddenly she was calling it _Reno's_. The money the Turks spent on it did more than pay for a new bottle, so in a way she could argue it belonged to them.

Reno huffed and started to stand up from his stool.

"Guess I'll be leavin' then," Reno said.

Tifa almost looked as if she accepted his statement.

"I'm kidding, yo," he said, sitting back down. "Just give me whatever. Booze is booze. I'm here for the company."

Tifa smiled again and turned around to find her second-most expensive bottle of scotch, which was rarely touched. Her regular customers were not, as you'd say, picky. She mechanically grabbed a glass from the shelf and spun it in her hand to set it down upright before opening the bottle and pouring a drink with a flourish. She turned to Reno and gently set the glass down in front of him. He picked it up and "cheers'd" her with the glass silently before taking a sip.

"Pour yourself one, I'll pay for both," Reno suggested.

Despite her profession, Tifa was not a big drinker, and she certainly didn't want to lower her inhibitions when she was alone with a man like Reno. Still, she supposed one glass of Corel wine wouldn't hurt.

She wasn't even used to sitting on the chairs at her own bar, so she continued to stand behind the counter as if she were working.

"Take a seat, yo," Reno said, patting the stool next to him. Rude's usual seat.

Tifa obliged and walked around the bar and approached the stool, but Reno reached out to grab her by the waist and pull her against him before she could sit. She stumbled and nearly dropped her glass, suddenly finding herself with the side of Reno's head against her breasts. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be anything sexual about his actions. It appeared as though he just wanted to hold her and feel her warmth against his own.

She reflexively began to stroke the spikes of his hair, as she had done with Cloud so many times over the years. Reno relaxed into her, his body settling against her almost as if he needed her to hold him up.

"Rough day?" Tifa asked, peering down at the top of his head, his goggles pressed into her sternum.

He tightened his grip around her and gently nuzzled his head between her breasts, though again, it didn't feel sexual.

"Rough week," he admitted.

Tifa couldn't believe that he had opened up to her at all. The Turks were a closely guarded bunch, and though Reno was more emotional than the others (mostly anger, however) he still never expressed what he thought of his job.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, though she didn't think she'd get a real answer.

"Nothing," he responded. "Literally nothing."

"That sounds like a safe week in your line of work."

"Exactly. I hate 'safe.'"

A smile formed on Tifa's lips and quickly disappeared. She couldn't imagine anyone else being upset that they didn't have a near-death experience for a week. She wouldn't tell him about her own week, how she was nearly impaled by a giant stinger in a cave beneath Cosmo Canyon. She couldn't risk him finding out why she was there and potentially notifying Rufus.

"You Turks must be the only people who feel that way," she said.

He tried to lift his head to look into her eyes, but the position he had chosen initially did not allow him to see anything but part of her breast. He wasn't complaining.

"I thought you AVALANCHE types lived for danger," he said.

Tifa chuckled like a mother whose child had just asked a silly question.

"Maybe some of them were like that, but I never was," she said. "I mean, not truly."

Reno loosened his grip on her waist and pulled away, leaving his hand to rest on the small of her back, his fingers outstretched and his pinky slipping beneath the waistband of her skirt.

"Huh," he said. "I guess I got a different impression during our fights."

He grinned and looked up at her. She laughed.

"I'm sure it certainly _looked_ like I lived for danger when I was kicking your ass," she responded.

"Kicking my ass? Honey, I _let_ you win."

"Oh, you did, did you?" she was flirting now, with a wicked half-smile and a cocked eyebrow.

Reno stood up, never moving his hand off her back, and pulled her close to him once more. He brought his free hand down to grip her rear end and squeezed. She yelped.

"I just didn't want to hurt that pretty little ass of yours," he cooed, looking down into her disbelieving eyes. "But if you wanna take me on, I'm all for it."

He was now grinning from ear to ear, but he couldn't trick her. She pulled back out of his grip and raised her index finger as if warning him.

"Nice try, but I know why you like to fight me," she taunted.

"Oh, come on, I'll even turn the mag rod setting down," he said, that devilish grin returning to his face.

"You really think you could beat me?" Tifa asked.

"I don't think, I know," he baited.

Tifa narrowed her eyes at him. She knew what he was doing, but some part of her felt her pride had been attacked. The Turks always gave up when fighting her and AVALANCHE. There was no way he could defeat her one-on-one.

"Fine," she sighed. "But no using pyramid, no using the mag rod _there_, no materia, and we stop before someone gets seriously injured, alright?"

Reno was all for it.

"Whatever you want, my dear." He took off his jacket and draped it neatly over his barstool before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. Tifa would never admit it, but she loved the look of a man in a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves.

She pulled out her Premium Heart and stretched the gloves over her hands, making sure Reno could hear the crackling of the leather. Reno unhooked his mag rod and snapped his wrist, powering up the weapon but lowering the setting to what he affectionately referred to as "pleasure." Tifa winced just at the sight and sound of the electricity flowing through the weapon.

They each got into their fighting stances in the middle of the bar, sizing each other up and remembering what attacks had worked well in the past. For the latter, Reno was at a significant disadvantage, since his first fight with Tifa involved him repeatedly trapping her in a pyramid and during his second battle he was too turned on to really take stock of her weaknesses.

Reno gestured with his fingers to invite Tifa to take the first shot and it was on.

Tifa lunged at him, jumping into the air and slamming into him foot-first, knocking him back and reminding him of all the pain Rude had inflicted on his face after he found out about Reno and Tifa. Before Reno could get up, Tifa had him pinned to the ground, straddling him at the waist and lifting him up by the collar of his shirt, her hand balled into a fist and pulled back into the air, ready to punch.

Reno glanced down quickly to see her panties before reaching out to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her down against him. She struggled, still in fight mode, so he grabbed her wrists in his hands and held her arms behind her back.

"I think I win," he whispered.

Tifa jolted at his words and broke out of his hold, jumping back to her feet and raising her hands in front of her face defensively.

"I don't think so," she growled.

She again reached for him, this time delivering a series of blows to his chest. He had to take a few steps back but reached up his mag rod and drove it into her side. It wasn't the pain she was used to from the device, but it was enough to cause her to cry out, perhaps because she anticipated a much greater shock.

She batted the EMR away and crouched on the floor, sweeping her leg toward him and dropping him to the ground. Instead of pinning him and giving him an opening, she reached down to pull him up by the collar and then slammed him to the ground again.

Reno sputtered a moment before grinning at Tifa and rushing toward her. He lowered his shoulder into her stomach and carried her back into the wall before again brining his mag rod to her side. She struggled and kicked against him as he pinned her to the wall, trying to at least avoid the electricity.

She lifted a knee and pressed her foot into his chest, kicking him backward as she landed gracefully back on the ground. He again lunged for her, pressing her up against the wall and grabbing her face in his hands to kiss her. At first she struggled against him, as she was still ready to fight, but she soon removed her hands from his arms and reached up to cup his face with one hand and rest the other on the back of his neck.

They were both breathing rapidly as the fight turned into a passionate make-out session, each seemingly still fighting the other with their tongue. Reno reached behind her neck to grab her hair and pull it down so that he had access to her neck. He started kissing, then nipping, then sucking, and occasionally even straight up biting her skin from her neck to her shoulder, giving special attention to her pulse point. She moaned and brought one leg up to wrap around his waist. He gladly lowered one hand to hold up her upper thigh while snaking his fingers toward the edge of her panties.

This was it, Tifa thought, the moment she was making the worst decision of her life. Going any further with Reno would necessarily revoke her AVALANCHE membership – not to mention spitting on the graves of Jessie, Bigg's, and Wedge.

In addition, she was now convinced Cloud was somewhere in the world _needing_ her help, if Nanaki's theory about Jenova cells and the Lifestream was correct. What had she become in the month and a half since Cloud had left? He'd been her whole world for most of her life, yet less than two months away from him and she was about to do the unthinkable with one of his enemies?

She clawed at the back of Reno's head as she felt his thumb glide over the front of her panties to feel her sweet spot, while his index finger slid along the edge, teasing her with entrance.

"Tell me what you want, yo," he breathed into her ear, his voice heady.

And Tifa honestly didn't know. _Physically_ her body wanted more, but her mind just couldn't get past the fact that this was _Reno_. What was happening was torturous, but she didn't know how much further she could go without completely hating herself. She definitely couldn't allow him to go from seeing her breasts to fucking her – that was out of the question. Maybe allow him just a little more access? Maybe turn the tables and make him uncomfortable for a change? Was that even possible?

"I want…" she whispered back into his ear, finding it difficult to speak as his fingers threatened to defile her. "I want… to see what's in the picture…"

It was the safest thing she could ask for, honestly. It would keep him from _knowing_ her but give him a little hope to keep going. He pulled away from her and grinned as she slowly lowered her foot back to the floor and adjusted her skirt, holding her knees together in embarrassment.

Reno unbuttoned his shirt, which was already untucked, and pressed his hips into hers back against the wall. Tifa could see his lean physique, every muscle of his torso and almost every bone as well. She ran her finger down his chest to his belly button, and then slowly, with just the tip of her fingers skimming his body, traced the line of hair from his belly to his belt.

He was almost as narrow as she was, his hip bones sticking out from his thin frame and those "V" muscles pointing her in the direction _he_ wanted her to go.

He waited patiently as she weighed her options, the anticipation exciting him and causing him to torture _himself_ by not simply throwing her to the ground and taking her as he wanted. Her eyes fixated on his belt buckle and the hair that disappeared underneath.

Was she crazy? She suddenly found herself breathing far more rapidly than she had been. She was panicking but fighting through it. She wanted this, and she had to stop worrying about Cloud. Reno had been right, if Cloud loved her, he would have found a way to contact her. He could just as easily be fine somewhere and ignoring her.

She hesitantly brought her hands to his belt buckle, rubbing her thumb over the face of it as she stalled – partially to gather her own resolve, but also to torture him as he had done to her. His loins tensed up when she unbuckled his belt; she could see his erection move underneath his pants. She lifted her head to look him in the eye as she lazily felt around for the button on his pants. His eyes were dilated and intense, staring back at her with a feral gaze that begged her to keep going.

Unbuttoning his pants allowed her to see more of his happy trail, and she felt her own insides tense with desire. She kept her eyes trained on the trail as she slowly unzipped his fly. He let out a moan and moved his hips to allow his pants to fall to the ground, revealing his navy-blue boxer briefs underneath. Tifa could see the outline of his package now, angled up and to the side, the tip poking out above the waistband of his boxers near his hip.

She admittedly didn't have much experience with men, but she hadn't expected Reno to be so… big. Yuffie had been right, his long, lean frame translated into a long member. Not that Cloud was small, by any means, but Reno did have him beat in that department. This must be why Reno was a womanizer without leaving too many angry women in his wake.

Reno was finding it difficult to let her keep going without pawing at her. He wanted her to explore him, but he was really hoping she would be a bit quicker. By this point during their encounter on the floor of the bar weeks earlier he had already seen her breasts. Speaking of, she was still annoyingly clothed. He decided he could forgo – for a moment – her lowering his boxers in exchange for getting to see those beautiful breasts of hers. She shoved her back into the wall and kissed her again, pressing his erection against her sweet spot. As their tongues danced, he reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled it up, releasing his lips from hers for a brief moment to pull her shirt over her head and toss it to the floor.

She instinctively moved to cover her breasts and he let her – for a second. His hands reached around her back and unclasped her bra instantly as she clutched it to her chest. He reached up to drop the straps from her shoulders and coax her into letting him see. She eventually gave in, sheepishly, still always embarrassed that a man was seeing her half naked. It never really got easier even with Cloud, and she never knew why.

Probably because she had been teased about her breast size as a young teenager (she developed early), and even though she knew the men seeing them now would not insult her, she still had that childhood fear she couldn't let go.

Reno's hands were greedy, roaming over her breasts as if he had just discovered them. He squeezed one while bringing his tongue to the nipple of the other, sliding his muscle around the areola before nipping gently on the aroused bud. Tifa's legs shook beneath her. This was definitely too far. Reno was certainly at that man's "point of no return" and she wasn't sure if she were brave enough to continue on. It seemed he was determined, however.

He continued to suck on her nipple before aggressively kissing and nipping his way to her other breast, bringing his hands down to his boxer briefs and tugging them downward. He stood back up fully to watch Tifa's eyes widen as she looked upon his erect member. All women had that look of shock and desire. He was quite proud of it.

Tifa, unfortunately for him, was still overdressed, so he decided his next move was to remedy that. He pressed his chest against hers and rubbed his tip on the outside of her panties, just over her entrance. She suddenly felt the same sensation she had in the dream and knew Reno could tell how wet she was. He again sucked on her neck, bringing his hands down to the hem of her skirt, lifting it up to her hips and sliding his hands along her cheeks.

He wanted her and she knew it, but she wasn't ready to go any further, already embarrassed that he was so close to being inside her. He brushed his hands up to her hips and looped his thumbs under the sides of her panties and began to pull them down. She met his hands with her own and held them in place.

"Reno…"

He knew what that tone meant. He had gone too far. He could salvage this. He could walk away with _something_ and still make her feel like he was a gentleman respecting her boundaries. He raised her panties back into place and gave the sides of her thong a little pat when they were in place. He then lowered her skirt but stayed pressed against her, burying his face in her chest. He gently kissed his way back up to her lips and parted with her, searching her eyes for an indication that she was okay with at least a little more play. She smiled, and he knew he could get away with a little more.

He wasn't going to humiliate himself by getting off from dry humping her; that wasn't his style. He continued to kiss her but caught her wrist and lowered her hand to his erection. She at first jumped at the feel of his skin, but he held her wrist. She timidly ran her fingers up and down the shaft from the hilt to the tip and back, before swirling her thumb around the tip. Nervously, she gripped his member in her hand and began to slowly, but surely, work the shaft.

He moaned at her touch and threw his head back to concentrate on her movements. She was surprisingly good at this, despite her inexperience. Strife had been a lucky man – how could he have given up this woman? Reno returned his gaze to Tifa and looked at her hungrily, his eyes focused like a wild animal. He again lurched for her and thrust his tongue into her mouth, treating her with little regard as he pumped his hips to help her down south. This wasn't his first – or second – preferred method for getting off, but he figured this was a big enough step for her that he would not pass it up. He felt awkward, but knew that one day – soon – he would releasing into her instead of onto her.

As he approached his own gratification, he grabbed her waist and quickly laid her on the ground. Her eyes widened with fears as she briefly thought he was going to kneel down and enter her. Instead, he showed her the side of him that didn't respect women, finishing on her chest.

"Oh…. Fuuuuuuck…." He said as he came onto her breasts.

She wasn't terribly happy about it, but knew it was better than his other options. She had cut him off, the least she could do is let him finish without embarrassing himself.

After he had unloaded, he collapsed onto the floor next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close (being careful not to get any of his own juices on himself, of course).

"Damn, girl," he cooed into her ear as he brought his free hand to rest behind his head.

Tifa was nervous, excited, and embarrassed by the whole situation. It had been hot, but she was now in so deep she wasn't sure she'd be able to get back out. She had seen him at his most vulnerable, gotten a brief glimpse into what sex with him might be like – and she was curious.

This was so out of her character, she thought, that maybe the Lifestream really _had_ an affect on her. Maybe she had only been so lustful with Cloud because of what the Lifestream had done. She would certainly buy that as an argument for why she was at this moment lying topless on the floor of her bar, covered in the secretions of a man she had once considered her enemy, who was lying nearly naked on the floor next to her.

And then she said the words she never thought she would ever say to him: "You can stay, if you want."

**End notes: Woo boy! Finally, some action. Knowing Tifa, she'll overthink this to death, so look forward to that as well as Reno scheming to get further with her. We still have a week until the Forgotten Capital, you know.**


	25. Reno's New Assignment

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Again, if you don't like reading sex scenes, don't read further.**

**Sorry this chapter has had the longest delay. Life happens.**

Chapter 25:

Tifa awoke to find herself alone in her own bed. She couldn't say she was surprised that Reno had absconded in the middle of the night after she invited him to stay over, but it didn't mean that she wasn't hurt. She would regret that for the foreseeable future.

She had allowed him into her space and even a little into her heart. He had seen things she had only let Cloud see and slept where only Cloud should have slept. She had convinced herself that maybe she was different than the other girls Reno went to bed with – that maybe she was special. Waking up alone after she had allowed him to defile her like that showed she was mistaken.

She suddenly felt empty inside and used. Reno had agreed to come upstairs with her the previous night and didn't leave when she went to take a shower to wash off… him. She figured that if he was going to high tail it through the window, that would have been the time. But he didn't try impose on her shower (she half thought he would do that, just for kicks) and he was calmly sitting on Cloud's side of the bed when she entered the bedroom. She wore pajama shorts and a camisole just to be safe while still looking cute. Reno had his legs spread, one off the side of the bed while the other hung off the end and wearing just his boxer briefs. He had a smirk on his face.

"Nice jammies," he teased, eyeing her up and down. Tifa bent at the waist and raised her index finger toward him.

"Can't be too careful with a lecherous Turk around," she joked, while Reno gave a rueful smile.

He had been perfectly chaste that night once they were in bed, wrapping an arm around her and keeping it at her midriff. She could tell it was awkward for him and supposed he wasn't much of a cuddler.

"Reno?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Good night."

"G'night, Lockhart."

In the morning she was facing Cloud's empty side of the bed. His essence was now gone, ripped from the sheets by the musk and sweat of a man who didn't deserve to have laid in Cloud's space. Tifa gripped her pillow, near tears, until her phone buzzed on the nightstand behind her. She turned over and noticed not only her phone, but something that hadn't been there before; something standing in the place where the flowers had been.

_She_ was staring back at herself, in bobblehead form. Her eyebrows knitted together as she studied the figure on her nightstand.

"What in the world…?" she said out loud, as if the bobblehead would answer.

She sat up and grabbed the figurine, bringing it closer to her chest to inspect it. It wasn't the _worst_ likeness of herself she had ever seen (that honor belonged to Cloud's napkin drawing of her he created in jest while waiting for dinner one night). It was her alright, even had her name inscribed at the bottom.

"Where did he find you?" she asked it. The figure nodded back gently. Next she took her phone (without letting go of the bobblehead) and checked her message from Reno.

"Duty calls, yo," the message said.

Perhaps he hadn't simply fled her in the middle of the night like one of his one-night stands. Perhaps she _was_ different.

_Meanwhile…_

"Duty," of course, meant running back home, showering and changing, and then running _back_ to Seventh Heaven to meet Rude and start surveilling the woman with whom he had just spent the night. What a job.

Of course, he arrived late – couldn't look like he was excited to be peeking in her windows or anything – but it didn't matter. She was a bartender who had been kept awake the previous night by _some_ rakish young chap who apparently wore out every muscle of her body. Lucky girl.

He and Rude met a few blocks from the bar to strategize. Rude brought the Official Turk Telescope.

"Ah, Betsy," Reno said affectionately. "It's been a while."

Rude nodded.

"There's a vantage point across the street from the bar," he said. "Once she's out of the house we can use more traditional means."

Reno gave his partner a "thumbs up" before the two headed for the fire escape of the nearby building. It wasn't the most technical of surveillance methods – most of their fun equipment was destroyed with Shinra HQ, but it got the job done.

On the roof, Reno supposed it was best to let Rude do the snooping, as might look a tad too eager if he volunteered. He sat with his back against the parapet facing away from Seventh Heaven, feeling sort of ashamed for what he had done to her last night but more ashamed for how what he had done would hurt Rude if the man knew about it.

That's right, Reno can feel shame.

Rude opened the case that held "Betsy" and carefully removed the pieces of the tripod before clicking and twisting them into place. He adjusted the height so that the scope could just see over the edge of the roof without easily being spotted by someone below, or their target. He then crouched down behind the tool and adjusted the focus.

He could see into her living room and kitchen, and the bar downstairs. Tifa wasn't in any of those rooms that Rude could tell.

"I can't see into the bedroom, we'll need another telescope set up on the far roof," he informed Reno.

Now that Rude had said something, Reno didn't much like the idea of another man peering into her home. He suddenly worried she might be walking around in her underwear or less… Wait, was he being _possessive?_ He didn't like this feeling, whatever it was.

"There she is," Rude said, moving the scope slightly.

He could see Tifa walking through the living room and into the kitchen, wearing her red bathrobe. Rude watched as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen island. Just riveting stuff.

"What's she doing?" Reno asked. He'd wanted to ask what she was wearing – both to know whether Rude was seeing too much and because he couldn't help himself – but again thought it might bother his partner.

"Drinking coffee."

"Fascinating. Job well done."

And it continued on like that for some time. Reno sat impatiently as Rude watched Tifa finish her coffee and breakfast, disappear into the back of the apartment, reappear dressed, and then clean her home. No phone calls that he could see.

It took several hours for her to finally emerge from the bar out into the sunlight. Finally, maybe some action. She put her gloves on and began walking down the main street away from where Reno and Rude were perched.

"Wonder where she's going…" Rude mused.

"Should we get down and follow her?"

"Probably, she was just attacked by some grashtrikes."

Knowing she was fighting alone made Rude uneasy. He knew Tifa was strong, but the number of monsters appearing in the city lately was just too much. She could be overwhelmed.

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself," Reno said. "Besides, if we appear now, she'll get suspicious. We have to wait until later like we usually do."

He leaned back against the parapet and put his arms behind his head just as his phone started to ring. He groaned and pulled it out of his pocket to check who was calling. Oh shit, Rufus.

"I gotta take this," he said to Rude as he crawled away from the edge of the roof before standing and walking to the opposite corner.

"Sir?"

"Reno, I have a special assignment just for you," Rufus said on the other line.

Reno rolled his eyes. Of course, just as he gets the best assignment of his career Rufus was going to take it away from him. It figures.

"Sir?"

"I hear you've been seeing the barmaid," Rufus continued. "Don't worry, none of your fellow Turks ratted you out."

Well, at least that was a relief, but it made Reno wonder if Rufus was having _them_ followed.

"I want you to get closer to her. Watching from afar is one thing, but I need you to get in there and learn what AVALANCHE is up to."

"Sir," Reno said, lowering his voice and putting a hand around his mouth and the phone to mask the call. "Please don't make this an assignment."

"Why? Would that take the fun out of it for you?" Rufus seemed almost gleeful.

"It's not that, Chief," Reno added, trying not to sound like he was begging. "Rude and I can get the same information just from surveilling her using typical methods.

"I don't want to just follow and listen, I want to know what they're doing so we can get _ahead_ of them," Rufus seemed irritated and as if he were doing this to punish Reno. "Just do whatever it is you've been doing but do it professionally."

Rufus hung up without waiting for a response. Reno stared at his phone a moment, hoping Rufus would call back and tell him to forget what they discussed. He may not be pursuing Tifa for the right reasons, but he didn't want his _job_ to depend on deceiving her. He didn't understand how it wasn't good enough to surveil her like they had done many times with many targets in the past. Reconnaissance was a Turk specialty; they didn't _need_ to cozy up to an enemy to get information – and Tifa wasn't their enemy.

He flipped his phone closed and took a deep breath before returning to Rude. Tifa was still fighting the grashtrikes, so Reno eased himself back to where he was sitting before. He bent his legs to let his hands hang over his knees, still holding his phone limply. Rude didn't stop looking through the telescope.

"Hmm?" he said.

Reno knew that meant Rude wanted to know about the phone call – and that he probably suspected it had been Rufus on the other line. Reno wasn't even sure how to broach the subject. Would Rude even believe him? Was Rufus just toying with him? The man could be ruthless, after all. But would he really force an employee to date a woman to steal information?

Not that Reno had never done something like this, but he had never been _ordered_ to sleep with the woman, he just took the "by any means necessary" quite seriously.

Rude noticed Reno's hesitation and looked back at him with some level of concern.

"What?" he asked.

Reno didn't look at him, instead just staring at a space off in the distance.

"Rufus… wants me to use her," he said.

"Hmm?"

"He told me to date her and find out what AVALANCHE is up to and then beat them to the punch," Reno said, his words falling out of his mouth and onto the roof below him. He moved his foot as if he were putting out a cigarette in an attempt to crush them.

"Oh," Rude said, understanding what was distressing Reno. "Is it because it wouldn't be fun for you anymore?"

"No!" Reno protested. "Well, yeah, that, and…"

Rude raised an eyebrow up over his glasses. Was there something more to Reno?

"What?" he asked.

Reno looked away and scoffed. He didn't want to say. If he said what was on his mind he'd get mocked. It wasn't like he had feelings for Tifa, or anyone, he just didn't want to be used this way by his employer.

"You're actually worried about hurting her," Rude said. Reno shot him an angry look.

"What? No!"

Rude tilted his head and pursed his lips. He hadn't actually thought Reno cared about Tifa until now. Maybe there was a solution.

"Maybe don't look at it as using her," Rude suggested. "Remember when Rufus said we could work with AVALANCHE if we have to? So, let's just work with them."

Reno had _not_ expected to hear those words from Rude's mouth. Rude was actually suggesting undermining – ever so slightly – Rufus Shinra, and he was suggesting Reno do it by flirting with the woman _he_ had a crush on. Maybe this wasn't such a bad assignment after all.

"Hmm, you might be on to something there, yo," Reno said, coming out of his stupor. "Are, would you be okay with this?"

Rude lowered his head a moment and sighed.

"You were worried about an assignment for the first time ever," Rude began. "I don't think you're going to hurt her."

Reno was a bit uneasy, but if he could get over the part about betraying Tifa and focus simply on helping her, he'd be doing his job _and_ proving to her he was a changed man. Could be a win-win if she never found out about Rufus' assignment.

"Guess I'll go get to work then, huh?" Reno said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

Getting paid to hang around Tifa no longer seemed like such a bad job.

Rude nodded and returned to the telescope. He'd keep watch from a distance until told otherwise, even if it meant watching his best friend with the woman he admired. Turk work wasn't always easy.

"We should send you with a wire," Rude suggested before Reno could escape down the ladder. He looked back at his partner with fear in his eyes. It was one thing to be told to woo a woman for information, it would be quite another for his coworkers and superiors to _hear_ what he was saying to her.

"Please, man, don't make this any harder than it has to be," Reno said with a dejected look on his face. "We're going to bug her house tonight, let's just leave it at that."

Based on his recent relationship with Tifa, he knew a wire would likely be discovered pretty darn quickly anyway.

Rude huffed but agreed. He didn't really want to hear what Reno might say to Tifa anyway. This whole assignment gave him a hot sting of jealousy at the base of his neck.

Reno scuttled down the fire escape taking the rungs two at a time, dropping from the ladder a few feet off the ground. He adjusted his jacket and dove his hands into his pockets as he walked toward Tifa, who was just leveling the final grashtrike. He couldn't look too excited strolling over to her, both for her sake and for Rude's.

She was wiping the sweat from her brow when he approached her. She startled, but more due to the fact that he _wasn't_ sneaking up on her in a dark, secluded place. Her confusion quickly turned into a smile and she reached behind her head to secure her long, thick hair into a high ponytail. Even tied back, her hair reached below her buttocks.

"All leather today, huh babe?" he asked, looking her up and down.

She was wearing a black leather vest that zipped up the front with a white tank top underneath and black leather shorts that nearly reached her knees with a leather duster apron in the back. Reno had never seen her wear something that covered so much of her legs. He didn't like it. He had always had much easier access to what was underneath, even if he hadn't gotten to partake. She was also wearing black high-tops instead of her usual boots. Someday, he thought to himself, he would make her wear heels in front of him. Black, strappy heels. Scratch that – red, feathery stripper heels with a clear plastic spike and platform.

She seemed to be answering him about her outfit, but his mind was elsewhere, imagining her in red lingerie swinging around a stripper pole for him in a private room.

"Where were you coming from?" he heard her ask, unfortunately snapping him out of his imagination.

"Uh, just patrolling," he lied, scratching the back of his head.

"Aren't you worried about Rude catching you?" she asked. Reno rubbed his neck to calm his nerves.

"Uh, he knows about us already," he answered.

"WHAT? How?" Tifa suddenly became concerned that Reno was bragging about his encounters with her around the Shinra building.

"He, uh, saw us in Junon."

"_What_ did he see?"

"Hey, he couldn't have been much," Reno tried to alleviate her embarrassment. "At worst he would have seen your leg and the side of your ass."

That didn't help.

"And even if the bottom of your tit was hanging under your shirt, my hand was covering it," Reno grinned, honestly thinking he had just comforted her.

"WHAT?" Tifa's face was bright red.

"Hey, babe, we were in an alley, any number of people could have walked past and seen."

Tifa wasn't stupid. She knew that was the case, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing to hear. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, suddenly feeling very exposed.

"Don't call me that," she again demanded.

From his vantage point, Rude thought he was watching Tifa angry at Reno as his partner tried to defend himself. She was swinging her arms in frustration, and he kept responding with defensive gestures. For Rude, it was pretty comical.

"Besides, Rude isn't even around today, he's feeling under the weather," Reno lied.

Tifa narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief. She couldn't imagine Rude getting sick.

"Well, it was nice to see you Reno, but I have errands to run," she said.

She moved to walk down a side street, but Reno trotted to catch up to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"It's dangerous out these days, I'm going to do my civic duty and protect a great citizen of this city," Reno said with a smile and a salute. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"That's okay, I don't need any help," Tifa said, looking around to see if anyone was watching.

"What's the matter?" Reno asked, confused by how cold she was being toward him after she had invited him to spend the night with her just last evening.

"I'd rather not have any gossip articles written about me or us," Tifa said, continuing to walk to her destination without looking at Reno. The Turk suddenly cut in front of her and stopped, forcing her to stop as well.

"Whoa, you're not worried about gossip magazines, you're worried about your AVALANCHE buddies _reading_ those gossip magazines, aren't ya?" Reno was, frankly, hurt by her words.

He was no stranger to secret hookups but did not like being on the other side of one. _She_ was embarrassed to be seen with him?

She stopped and turned to him, her gaze dropping to the ground.

"It's… not that," she said. Reno crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one hip.

"Uh huh, I see. I'm good enough for some secret fun but not good enough to be seen in public with you."

"No!" Tifa cried. "It's not that!"

Well, it sort of was that. She had been nervous about people seeing her with Reno in Costa del Sol, but didn't really think about it since they were with Barret and Marlene and at that point she thought Cloud had probably left her. Now she was concerned he was injured somewhere or suffering and didn't want him to see one of those magazines trying to claim she was dating a Turk. She suddenly realized the absurdity of that thought.

"I'm sorry," she said, her head lowered. "I didn't mean it like that. Yes, I would like your help today."

Reno intertwined his fingers behind his head and sighed. He had an idea where she had been going with that, but certainly couldn't let her know he was hurt by it.

"Fine, I guess I'll still help you, citizen."

He accompanied her to the theater, which included another fight with some zenenes. Tifa flipped gracefully through the air as she attacked, looking like she had choreographed the whole thing. Reno was always amazed by the way she fought, but not just because of how it turned him on. He stabbed at the creatures with his mag rod until he and Tifa had defeated them all.

"You're making this trip much easier," Tifa said, avoiding an actual "thank you."

"At your service, ma'am," Reno said in a mock serious tone that made Tifa laugh.

They reached the theater shortly after. Reno had never been one for the arts, but found it charming that Tifa would spend her days fighting her way to help build a theater. He looked around at the building in which they now stood, noting how it looked complete except for some finishing touches like paint and carpet. Then again, he wasn't quite sure what a theater was supposed to look like.

"I've always spent my days helping to build Edge," Tifa offered, though Reno hadn't asked. "The people here helped Cloud and me build our home and I want to do my part for them."

Ugh, Cloud again. Reno knew by now he'd just have to ignore mentions of the blonde if he hoped to get closer to Tifa.

"Okay, how can I help?" he asked, rather cheerfully while clapping his hands together and rubbing his palms. He was going to take full advantage of this assignment to "get close to her," as Rufus had demanded. Tifa looked at him, confused.

"You really want to help?" she asked, tilting her head. "What about your patrol?"

Reno shook his head.

"Eh, I think I can take a little break and help out a pretty lady," he responded with a smile, which Tifa returned.

"Never figured you for the helpful type," she said, placing a hand on her hip. Reno tapped his chest.

"Oh yeah, I can be extremely helpful when I want to be."

She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.

"Okay then, today we're helping to build the backstage area," Tifa informed him before leading him up onto the stage and back to an area that did not look as finished as the room they had just been in.

Exposed wooden beams lined some sort of pathway leading in different directions. Reno had no idea what really went on behind a stage, so he had never considered how many rooms might be necessary. Tifa led him to a stack of plywood and lifted a piece, indicating for Reno to do the same. They then walked back along one of the wooden frames to where the wall was being put up. A man with an electric drill was screwing in the walls as others held up the plywood. After he put the first screw in the board Tifa was holding, he noticed Reno and huffed.

"Who's this scrawny sack of bones?" the man asked, jabbing a thumb in Reno's direction.

The redhead narrowed his eyes at the average-sized man with a bit of a beer gut. Reno preferred the term "sinewy" to describe himself.

"He's helping me today," Tifa said without giving Reno's name.

He supposed it had to do with their gossip magazine conversation earlier, but it just as easily could have been for his own protection. His name was more infamous than his face (in certain circles). People knew the name of the man who destroyed Sector 7, but they didn't necessarily know what that man looked like – at least not to the extent that they could recognize him in public.

The other man seemed to accept Tifa's brief explanation and went about his business. They continued in this way until the longest wall of the backstage area was complete. Tifa actually found Reno's presence enjoyable, as he cracked jokes and wasn't a complete idiot when it came to construction. She supposed his mechanical skills translated somewhat into general construction competency.

Since Tifa had slept in that day (thanks to Reno) she had to leave earlier than usual to fight her way back to the bar and get ready for opening.

"Do you mind if we stop at the liquor store so I can pick up a bottle of your favorite scotch?" she asked as they exited the theater, brushing a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"Of _course_ you can buy me a drink, yo," Reno said with a grin.

"I don't normally buy alcohol at full price, but I'm out and I figure you and Rude will be in tonight?" she asked – just to see if they would come by the bar. They had become familiar to her, and she enjoyed having them at the bar. She was also interested to see what new ploy Reno might try. She still pulsed whenever she thought back to his finger sliding along the edge of her panties, taunting her.

"Hey, no worries, I'll pay for it," Reno insisted. Tifa laughed.

"You already do."

They entered the liquor store and found the scotch section. Tifa grabbed the bottle off the top shelf while Reno studied the other options. He used his toe to point at a bottle on a shelf so low it was practically on the floor.

"What kind of sad, self-loathing guy would actually drink –" he fake squinted to see the label "–Grunt McGee's Licorice Scotch?"

Tifa laughed and crouched down to pick up the bottle. "Aged in the finest enamel barrels this side of Mideel," she read. "Are they purposefully trying not to sell their product?"

She stood back up, holding the bottle.

"You think any of my customers would order this?" she asked Reno with amusement. It was his turn to laugh.

"I want to see the person who would order this crap," he replied.

"Me too." Tifa kept the bottle as they walked to the cashier.

Behind him was a locked case with the most expensive products in the store. At the top of the case was a bottle of scotch shaped like an upside-down diamond.

"You mean to tell me you haven't been serving me the finest bottle of liquor you can find?" Reno teased, motioning toward the bottle.

"I, I never thought about it," Tifa said. She chose the top-shelf bottle to keep on hand just in case some high spenders came in. The Turks seemed to like it, so she never considered switching to something even more expensive.

"Tch, sir, how much for the Diamond Label?"

The man turned to look at the case and had to walk closer to inspect the shelf, clearly having never sold one of those bottles in this part of town before.

"3,000 gil," he said.

"I'll take it," Reno replied, reaching in his pocket for a wad of cash.

"I can get it," Tifa interjected. Reno held up his hand to stop her.

"No, no, this bottle is for me and Rude. You can display it, but no one else can drink it."

Tifa nodded and purchased the other two bottles of scotch. She exited the store with Reno, in their hands the most expensive liquor bottle from the store and one of the cheapest. No shame.

Reno assisted her on the trip home, fending off a pack of Kalm fangs and some caesars – he and Tifa both making sure the alcohol was safe above all else. When they returned to her bar she leaned her back against the front door, her hands behind her with her palms resting on the wood.

"Thank you for all your help today," she smiled. "And thank you for the bobblehead."

Reno partially closed the gap between them and rested a hand against the door frame above Tifa's head, shifting his weight so that this arm was supporting him.

"Hey, no problem babe," he cooed with a half-smirk appearing on his lips. "Seems a shame to part for such a short amount of time before the bar opens."

He stuck his tongue out at her between his teeth and she tilted her head, lifting her index finger to him.

"Nice try, but you'll have to wait to drink like everyone else," she teased, knowing full well what he actually meant.

"That's not what I meant," he said, but she was already working to open her front door.

"See you soon," she said, closing the door as he continued to stand there expectantly.

What was he supposed to do for an hour?

He turned around and looked toward the roof where he and Rude had been stationed earlier. The evening sun was glaring over the back of the building and Reno had to shield his eyes, but he could see the silhouetted arm of his partner giving a brief wave from the roof. Reno scaled the ladder to meet up with his comrade once again.

"Have a nice day?" Rude asked, though he had seen everything that happened.

"I think she trusts me a little more, yo," Reno replied, looking back toward Seventh Heaven before sitting down on the roof to avoid detection.

Now he was helping her out and talking to her without the immediate goal of sex. He, much to his dismay, could not just grope her in public while building the theater. He had considered it, of course, but figured it would knock him a few steps back in her affections. When he told Rude he thought Tifa was trusting him more, he didn't say it to give an update to his mission, he was saying it to himself because he was genuinely feeling it. She had taken him along on her routine, knowing full well he could now show up at any time in the future. She didn't seem to mind that or the fact that he had been with her today.

And given their interactions last night (which he had not been able to keep out of his head all day), he felt he wasn't too far away from finally bedding the woman of his dreams.

Reno still allowed Rude to use the telescope to surveil Tifa's apartment before the bar opened. The redheaded Turk knew she'd be showering and changing before work, and was thankful that they couldn't see into her bedroom or bathroom from their vantage point. He was now really concerned with the idea of Rude seeing her any way but fully clothed.

Previously, he would have simply snatched the telescope away to gawk before allowing Rude to take a look as well, but now he was desperate to ensure no other man would see her the way he had. He felt even more possessive now than he had earlier in the day. Must be some spell she was casting.

"See anything?" he asked his colleague just to be sure.

"No, she must be in the back," Rude replied.

Reno leaned back against the parapet and placed his hands behind his head for support. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander back to his earlier imaginations of Tifa stripping for him. This was certainly a place he'd like to visit. He didn't think he had been thinking about that scenario for very long – or that he nodded off – but he was snapped back to reality by Rude's monotone voice.

"The bar's open," he said.

Reno rubbed his eyes and turned to look over the roof at Seventh Heaven. The "open" sign was lit as well as the lights inside the bar. He stretched and yawned before turning to Rude.

"Back to work, I guess," he said, pretending to sound like he wasn't having fun.

Rude acknowledged Reno's words and started to break down the telescope to put it away. When he was finished, he slung it over his shoulder and nodded to Reno, who stood up and walked with him over to the ladder. They both climbed down carefully, making sure no one was around to see them, before crossing the street to enter Seventh Heaven.

An overwhelming sense of warmth filled Reno as he entered the bar. Tifa was already serving the couple customers who had appeared just after the bar opened, carrying a couple opened beer bottles to their tables with a friendly smile. She was cleaned and rejuvenated from her afternoon, wearing that leather outfit with her long hair again pulled back into a high ponytail. It bounced from side to side as she walked, trailing behind her with its own wind. Reno watched her for a few minutes before joining Rude at the bar. What was this he was feeling? It wasn't lust, which made it a foreign emotion to him as far as women were concerned. He of course had the urge to fuck her in the middle of the bar, but watching her move gracefully about the establishment made him unknowingly smile. He found himself just wanting her near him, maybe even holding him and not necessarily in a sexual way.

He had "hugged" her the night before, but he was just doing that to warm her up to him. Now he sincerely wanted to just feel her against him.

She strolled behind the bar to grab glasses for the Turks, that kind smile never leaving her lips. She leaned over the bar and rested her elbows on the counter so she could speak with them directly.

"I have a new bottle of scotch just for you two," she said, peering at one Turk and then the other, unaware that Rude knew of the liquor store stop and that he recognized the expensive bottle. "By the way," she said, looking directly at Rude. "Glad you're feeling better."

The bald man was confused but accepted her kind words.

"I know I'm game," Reno said. Rude nodded.

Tifa reached for the diamond-shaped bottle that was now displayed at the top of her liquor shelf, in the center, under a light. She brought the bottle to the bar in front of the Turks and opened it before pouring them each a glass.

It wasn't actually the most expensive scotch Reno had ever tasted. Years ago, when Rufus' father was still alive, the old president of Shinra had invited the Turks to his home to celebrate a particularly complicated mission. It was long before Reno laid eyes on Tifa, but AVALANCHE was in full swing.

Shinra had a liquor cabinet in his study, which was filled with expensive leather chairs, mahogany bookshelves, and smelled of cigar smoke. It was heaven, to Reno, back then. It had been the fanciest place he had ever been invited to, and though he didn't really like to read, he always dreamed of having a room like this in his home one day.

Shinra unlocked his cabinet and removed a decanter containing amber liquid. The bottle itself was nothing special that Reno could tell, though it was, in fact, a crystal Baccarat decanter with a starburst pattern and an "S" monogrammed on the front.

Shinra provided each of the Turks present with a matching tumbler, also made of crystal ,though Reno didn't know the difference, and poured them a drink. Reno sniffed the glass and his eyes almost immediately began go water. He was embarrassed and looked around to see that the other Turks and Shinra looked no different. The liquor smelled of creme brulee, and he wondered if it was going to taste sweet. When he finally tasted the liquor, it was predictably harsh, but he was able to taste more of the sweet flavors within, like vanilla and coconut.

The scotch he was drinking now was certainly better than the one he usually ordered from Seventh Heaven, but it couldn't compare to the one he tasted in Shinra's study. This one provided him with a new sensation, however. He was trying it for the first time in the company of Tifa Lockhart, in a way, in a place that felt like his second home. Somehow that made the whole experience much more inviting.

A few hours later and the Turks were nursing their second glass of the expensive scotch, simply enjoying the atmosphere and not really talking. That was interrupted when Tifa came over to them at the bar and met Reno's gaze to motion toward the liquor shelf. He followed her eyes and saw that she was now reaching for the cheap licorice scotch he had found for her earlier.

No.

Someone had actually ordered that garbage. She grabbed a tumbler from the rack and poured the drink with her back to the bar so they couldn't see her gag from the smell. She couldn't tell what it smelled like, but it certainly didn't smell like anything that should be consumed by humans. She forced a smile and took the glass to the patron as Reno watched. The man who ordered it looked every bit like Reno expected: Short, fat, bald, alone, and probably hated himself. Actually, he looked kind of like Palmer.

Tifa shot Reno a stifled smile and he returned the expression. She returned to her work and his attention fell back to the better scotch.

When Tifa went outside with the trash, Reno told Rude he was going out for a cigarette and batted the bald man's shoulder with the back of his hand. Rude barely grunted a response, but knew what Reno was indicating. After the redhead was outside for a few minutes, Rude stood up and walked over to the front window as if to look out to see if his drinking buddy were out there. He leaned one arm on the lock for the window and knocked on the glass with his other hand to get Reno's attention. As he turned to walk back to the bar, he moved his arm to unlock the window for later access.

By the time Tifa and Reno came back inside, Rude was sitting on his seat at the bar sipping his drink as if he'd been there the whole time. He patted Reno on the shoulder when the redhead sat back down to let him know the job was done. Reno sighed.

He was not looking forward to having Seventh Heaven bugged. Some of his best memories with Tifa were in this bar, and he did _not_ want his colleagues to hear anything remotely close to those encounters. He knew the apartment upstairs had to be tapped as well, which put a damper on his plans. He was already planning to convince Rude to let him bug the upstairs so he would know where they were – just in case, of course.

The Turks were the last customers to leave when Tifa closed the bar, giving Reno a half smile he interpreted to mean "come back a little later."

He walked with Rude across the street as some policeman battled with an elfadunk. He quietly climbed up the ladder back to the roof of the other building and Rude re-assembled Betsy.

"Hey, Rude," he said softly, nervous about how Rude would take the information. "I think I can get her to let me upstairs tonight if you want to bug the bar."

Rude removed his eye from the telescope and peered over his shoulder at Reno.

"You think?"

"You think a member of AVALANCHE won't notice two people in her home?"

"Fair enough," Rude sighed, knowing what it would mean if Reno was invited into her apartment.

Reno smiled to himself once Rude returned to the telescope. Of course, he couldn't be sure Tifa would let him upstairs tonight, even though she had invited him last night. His hope was that she missed sleeping next to someone enough to want him to be with her again.

Rude watched as Tifa cleaned up the bar and counted her profits before heading upstairs. He moved the telescope up once she was in her living room. She leaned back on the couch and started to read. Rude took a deep breath.

"Okay, want to see if you can get upstairs?" he asked his partner.

Reno grinned. "Will do."

Tifa checked the message on her phone and appeared to smile, though it was a little difficult to tell through the window shades even with the telescope.

"Got any more of that scotch?" the message said.

Rude could see her fingers moving as she sent a response. A moment later, Reno's phone buzzed. The redhead flipped it open and smiled.

"Enough for ONE more glass," the message said.

"I'm in," Reno told Rude.

Rude didn't respond and Reno didn't feel like pushing the issue, he was honestly too excited to see where the night would lead. He scrambled down the ladder and trotted across the street to the bar and knocked on the door, trying to hide his expression from Rude. Tifa let him in a minute later, turning the lights back on in the bar and following him as he returned to his stool and she reached for the bottle.

"You should have some of it, I'll allow it," Reno said.

Tifa did not care for scotch but had never tasted such expensive alcohol. She poured herself a small amount and joined Reno on the other side of the bar. She brought the glass to her lips and sniffed the liquid inside, which made her eyes water. She took a sip and sucked back air.

"Oh my God," she said, definitely not enjoying the drink.

"It's an acquired taste, yo," Reno informed her.

"I guess so."

Reno took a sip of his own drink and turned toward Tifa, even though he was aware Rude could see in through the window. That overwhelming urge to feel her skin against his own hadn't dissipated since he first walked into her bar that night. He took her hands. She seemed confused, as he was not much for gentleness or romance. He stared into her chocolate eyes with his own aquamarine ones.

This certainly was a strange feeling indeed. He had to change things. He couldn't be that guy. He _wasn't_ that guy, and as much as she needed to think he was that guy, he couldn't let it get around.

Without a word he lurched forward with his shoulder down to drive it into her stomach and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Reno!" she objected half-heartedly as he placed his hand on her ass to keep her steady, lifting his scotch glass with his free hand.

"Struggle all you want, I know you've been dying to get at me again," he said as he walked toward the stairs in the back of the bar.

He could have warmed her up more before taking her up here but didn't want Rude to watch. He wasn't opposed to exhibitionism, but something about knowing Rude was watching made him worry about his performance.

Tifa had to admit this caveman attitude was thrilling, but she feared what Reno might do to her upstairs. Their relationship had taken a big step the night before but she wasn't ready for _that_. Not with him. Maybe she could convince him just to cuddle?

Yeah, that definitely sounded like something Reno would agree to.

He walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, tossing her onto her bed like she was just a pile of clothes. Tifa sat up on her knees and stared at him with genuine fear in her eyes. Reno had made some bold moves with her, but she couldn't imagine a scenario in which this didn't end up with sex. She backed away from him until she hit the headboard, preparing to fight her way out if he was about to do what she thought.

His eyes had that feral look in them as he took of his jacket and laid it gently on the edge of the bed. He then rolled up each of his sleeves as if he were about to get down to business, approaching her on the bed.

He crawled over to her until their noses were touching and she could feel his hot breath on her lips. She had her knees pulled up to her chin and he placed a hand on each, spreading them apart.

He had stood before her, truly exposed, and now she was playing hard to get? Fine, he'd play along.

He spread her knees apart and shoved his tongue into her mouth, causing her to squeal. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him back, but he was on top of her with her legs on either side of his waist. His hands roamed her freely, finding it difficult to really feel her shapely assets underneath all the leather. She was relaxing now, accepting his tongue and his hands as one found its way to her vest and slowly pulled down the zipper.

It was at this point he realized he couldn't be as greedy as he wanted. Her fear let him know she still wasn't ready – that the game was still ongoing. He could wait a little while longer if it meant screwing the great Tifa Lockhart. Honestly, it was consuming nearly his every thought at this point, but that was probably due to the fact that he hadn't had sex with any other woman in a couple weeks now, his longest dry spell ever. Tifa better be worth it in the end. She was inexperienced, but even if she were an average lay it would still be worth the wait just to be able to say he had fucked her.

She let him remove her vest, but he left her tank top in place. He could feel her breasts without taking it off and his goal tonight was elsewhere. His hands moved to release the apron from her waist, and she didn't object. He kissed her again fiercely, keeping his hands low to unbutton her shorts. She shifted her hips but wasn't staying his hands. Damn he wished she would have worn a skirt tonight.

He unzipped her shorts as she kicked off her shoes and socks. Reno's lips left Tifa's and he kissed her down to her chin, down her throat, nipping and sucking her neck and shoulder to her chest and then skipping down to her belly. He sat up and with a rather aggressive motion ripped her shorts down until she lay before him wearing just a tiny white tank top and black lacy panties. She squeezed her knees together to keep some level of modesty and sat up against the headboard once again. Reno started to unbutton his own shirt as he looked down at her writhing beneath him. She was not quite comfortable but also not stopping him as he tossed his shirt off the bed.

She tried to bring her knees back to her chin but he again crawled on top of her as she squirmed.

"Don't worry," he whispered, his face close to hers, "I ain't gonna fuck you tonight. When I do, you're going to be begging for it."

He kissed her before she could respond, and she mewled. He again bit her neck just above her shoulder and sucked on the thin skin to leave yet another perfectly shaped hickey. He then placed his hands on her hips and quickly and adeptly pulled her further down the bed until she was lying fully on her back. She didn't even know how he did that without hitting her head on the headboard.

She was now beneath him, his long, toned arms holding himself up on either side of her chest, the muscles of his shoulders shining in the overhead light. He towered over her and she felt somehow safe, even though the evening could easily take a dark turn.

He bent his elbows to lower himself down to kiss her again and she sucked on his tongue. God, he loved that. He bit her lower lip and worked his way down to her belly again but looked back up at her with a devilish grin on his face. Tifa tensed up wondering what he might do.

Reno kept his eyes glued to hers as he placed his left hand on the inside of her upper thigh. He watched her eyes widen as he moved his hand slowly up her leg. She shivered as his hand went high enough to brush against the outside of her panties, over her folds.

Reno slid his hand to the other side of her panties and rubbed his thumb on her sweet spot as his fingers again threatened to gain entrance underneath the thin lacy fabric. Her breathing intensified as she felt the fabric lift and Reno's long calloused fingers suddenly against her most sensitive area. Her whole body blushed and filled with heat as one of his fingers played with the skin of her folds, just brushing back and forth to torture her.

"Reno…" there came the voice, but she said it the way she did when she was enjoying what he was doing, not wanting him to stop.

He felt the heat in his loins and his heart beating out of his chest as he slipped a finger between her slick folds. Oh, she was wet alright. He imagined he could slip his cock inside her right now with no problem – but that had to wait for another day.

The heel of his hand was resting atop her smooth pubic bone when he curled a finger to enter her. She whelped and struggled against him as he explored further inside her, bending at the knuckle to reach the sensitive nerve cluster beneath her belly. With just one finger he was able to make her twitch, struggle, and whimper. He removed his finger suddenly and she caught her breath for just a moment before he drove two fingers back inside her.

"Oh, Reno…" she moaned as he pumped his hand and tickled the _exact_ right spot.

She imagined Reno would know what to do, but she couldn't have imagined the intense pleasure that knowledge would bring her. With just his fingers he was making her feel like she had when he had pleasured her with the mag rod.

She tried to keep from giving him the satisfaction of knowing how much she was enjoying this, but she couldn't help but cry out. He was now driving his fingers deep inside her vigorously, nearly pushing her back up along the bed. He'd occasionally glance down at what he was doing, but more often was watching her to see her euphoria.

"Come for me, Lockhart," he cooed in a low, raspy voice as she writhed beneath him.

She fought back as her insides tensed around his fingers. He again curled his fingers upward to rub the cluster of nerves and she couldn't keep her dignity any longer. She screamed as her release finally came, his fingers squeezed by her walls as he pulled out of her. His grin grew wider as he watched her twitch – but he wasn't done with her yet.

He realized Rude was probably downstairs installing the bugs around the bar and he hesitated to continue for a moment. He had to admit he always _wanted_ to hear Tifa make sounds like this and more, but right now he thought it might be cruel to subject his partner to them downstairs.

Reno slowly brought his hand up in front of his face, licking the tips of his fingers as she moaned softly. He could see Tifa's ample bosom heaving up off the bed as she tried to calm down, her face as red as the boots she normally wore.

"Had enough?" he asked through that roguish smile.

Tifa couldn't even respond she was breathing so hard. Her brain told her to stop this right now, but her hormones were screaming to let him continue. She thrashed on the bed trying to regain control.

Reno hooked his thumbs on either side of her panties and began to pull them down. Tifa felt another rush of heat pool in her abdomen, physically wanting more but terrified of what she would get.

"Mmm those tan lines," Reno said coolly as he noted the lines of lighter skin on her hips that her bathing suit had covered while they were in Costa del Sol. He had seen her other tan lines on her chest the night before but had been too preoccupied with what _else_ was going on to say anything.

Tifa squeezed her thighs together with one knee over the other in an attempt to keep herself covered. Reno was about to see what only Cloud had seen, and she was panicking. Reno tossed her panties off the bed and sat back on his heels to inspect her. She was still wearing her white tank top but nothing else, the full lines of her curves visible beneath him.

This was truly one gorgeous woman, he thought as his eyes roamed her almost naked body. Her bust, her waist, her hips – he had never seen a more perfect woman. He found himself thinking Cloud must be the biggest idiot on earth, unless the old saying that "no matter how perfect a woman is, some man, somewhere is tired of her shit" was true. He couldn't imagine that could apply to Tifa, however. Who could ever get tired of violating this woman?

"Lookee what I get," he said almost to himself as she attempted to maintain her modesty.

He was still wearing his suit pants to let her know for sure that he would not be fucking her, but he leaned back over her to kiss her while his hands fondled her breasts. As his lips moved down, so did his hands, until they were on her thighs spreading them apart. He kissed her hips along her tan lines before moving down to her pubic bone and then to her sweet spot.

She moaned softly as he swirled his tongue around the sensitive nub before sucking on it. She arched her back off the bed as he sucked harder, the pleasure so intense it was almost painful. When he moved his tongue down to enter her, she felt her fingers start to go numb, so she began gripping the sheets to try to regain feeling.

He expertly moved his tongue inside of her as she wriggled about, her hands now numb as well. Her knees began quaking on either side of his head and she tried to control them so as not to knock him upside the head. By the time he returned to her sweet spot and slipped a finger inside her, she could no longer feel her toes.

She looked down at Reno's eyes peeking above her nether region. She could tell he was grinning as he worked her, watching her face contort into an expression that somehow showed both bliss and pain.

She slammed her head back against the pillow as Reno's free hand reached up to cup her breast. He was about to get her – again. She felt all of the emotions and all of the intensity whirling around inside her made her feel like she was about to explode. She tried to hold back for as long as she could. Suddenly, the feeling was gone as she collapsed back into the bed, still flicking her hands and feet to stop the tingling sensation. Her loins pulsed heavily as Reno pulled his head back to watch over her. She had released so hard a small pool formed beneath her on the sheets. Noticing it turned her bright red, again.

"Don't be embarrassed," Reno told her. "It's hot, knowing I made you come that hard."

Tifa tried to smile but was still trying to regain her composure. She again squeezed her knees together and flipped the sheet over to cover herself. Reno gave her a rueful smile when she did so.

"I don't know why you're embarrassed all the time, Lockhart. You got nothin' to be embarrassed about, yo."

He crawled back on top of her to kiss her, though she resisted his tongue knowing where it had just been. He laughed and rolled over next to her, propping his head up on his hand and drawing a small circle on her stomach with his finger while watching her calm down. Yup, he had done good, and he was admiring his work. Hopefully the bugs downstairs didn't hear too much.


	26. Panic At Seventh Heaven

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Tifa awoke to the sensation of Reno gently kissing the back of her shoulders as he lay next to her in bed. He had actually stayed the night with her and was now… being tender? She could never figure him out. He was usually vicious, but she was noticing him showing a sweet side more and more, yet she never knew when she would see it.

He had been so rough with her the night before, but now his arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, pressing her back against him as he gingerly kissed her delicate skin. Probably all a ploy, she thought. He snuggled his face against the back of her neck and gave her a squeeze, sensing she had woken up.

He had done what he usually did in situations like this, cuddling with Tifa until he could tell she was fully asleep. He then tested to ensure she was completely out – snapping his fingers in front of her face and copping a feel – before slipping out of bed to bug the apartment. He hated doing it. He hated the idea of Shinra and the other Turks listening to her, especially since he believed he would now be in that apartment a lot more. He didn't want his colleagues to hear what they were doing. There was something… unsettling about the idea.

He didn't bug her bathroom or the spare bedroom. He wanted to give her a little privacy and figured she probably didn't go in the spare room much – and he could probably use it to pleasure her without a bug in the room in the future.

"Mmm morning," Tifa said as she turned to face him, pleasantly surprised that he had stayed the whole night.

"Morning, babe," he whispered, hoping the recorders wouldn't pick it up. He didn't need to be teased at work. "Sleep well?"

"Mmhmm," Tifa moaned, her eyes investigating his.

He brought his thumb up to her lips and let it rest. She gave it a soft kiss, still amazed at how sweet he was being.

All at once his careful planning was over at the sound of his ringing phone. He groaned and reached over to grab his PHS, the sheet falling from his exposed chest. Tifa watched him intently, hoping it would be a spam call or something else unimportant so they could keep cuddling. As much as she enjoyed the hotness of the night before, she was now craving the emotional connection she didn't believe Reno could muster. She wanted to maintain it as long as possible, even if it was a temporary delusion.

"Reno! Get your ass in my office, _now_," Rufus Shinra seethed from the other end of the phone.

"Shit, babe, I gotta go," Reno told her as he jumped out of bed to find his pants, forgetting to whisper to avoid the recording devices.

"Something wrong?" Tifa asked in that sweet voice women had when they woke up the morning after intense sexual activity. She had propped herself up on one arm, allowing Reno to see the top of the satin slip she had worn to bed that could barely contain her breasts.

No, he had to stop thinking about that and looking at her. Rufus was _pissed_ and Reno wasn't exactly in the office. He pulled his pants up quickly and buckled his belt, frantically looking around for his shirt and shoes when all he wanted to do was lie next to Tifa and stare into her pretty eyes.

"Shit, shit, shit," he said as he haphazardly buttoned his shirt and reached for his jacket. He sat on the edge of the bed to pull on his socks and shoes, then grabbed his phone from the other side of the bed. He was nearly out the bedroom door when he decided he couldn't leave her like this and jumped onto the bed to kiss her one last time.

He then rolled off the bed again and dashed out of the room. Tifa heard the front door slam just seconds later.

_At Shinra's new HQ…_

"Reno, what did I tell you to do?" Rufus asked once he sensed the Turk was in his office. Rufus was standing at the window with his back toward Reno when the redhead entered.

"Get close to the target to learn information?" Reno questioned. He had been given the assignment only yesterday, Rufus couldn't possibly have determined that was enough time to find out what AVALANCHE was doing.

"And what have you done so far?" Rufus pried, still looking out the window.

Reno thrust his hands into his pockets and relaxed his posture. Obviously, he wasn't going to tell Rufus the _whole_ truth, but he had to give him something.

"Sir, I made inroads with the target by assisting her with her daily errands and distracted her while Rude bugged the bar. Earlier this morning I tapped the upstairs apartment."

"You know what I heard?" Rufus asked, turning to Reno and walking toward his desk. "I heard sounds I _never_ wanted to hear a member of AVALANCHE make."

Reno blushed but felt a small sense of pride.

"You know what I _didn't_ hear?" Rufus continued. "I _didn't_ hear anything about AVALANCHE's plans to save the world or my subordinate even _trying_ to get those plans."

"Sir, I'm working up to that."

"That's not what it sounded like you were working up to," Rufus seethed. "If you can't get me anything soon we'll have to resort to more… aggressive… means to extract the information from her."

"Sir?" Reno knew what Rufus was implying and he didn't want to put Tifa through that again.

He had helped Rufus subdue Tifa and Barret shortly after Sephiroth summoned Meteor in order to make examples of them to soothe the people of the planet. He was on the Highwind when it was nearly destroyed at the Northern Crater and Tifa fell on the upper deck, hitting her head hard enough to put her in a coma for seven days. Rude and several Shinra soldiers had forced Barret into the holding area while Reno carried Tifa and set her down on the table amongst the lab equipment.

Neither he nor Rude spoke up when Rufus decided to kill the two AVALANCHE members just to get the people's attention away from Sephiroth. Of course, they were both more concerned about Tifa, but back then they didn't say anything – in part out of loyalty, but also because they were too afraid to admit that they were afraid of the world ending.

If Rufus decided to bring Tifa in, it meant she would be tortured. And knowing Rufus, he would probably order Reno to carry out that torture.

"Just do your damn job!" Rufus yelled, motioning for Reno to get out of his sight.

Reno pivoted on his heel and stormed out of the room, thankful that Rufus couldn't see the expression on his face. He stomped into the Turks' office to try to calm down, but knew they had all heard the recording once he entered and saw Elena's face turn bright red. She quickly looked away from Reno as he walked past her. Rude, too, avoided eye contact with his partner.

_"Great, just great,"_ Reno thought to himself as he collapsed into his chair. He couldn't even enjoy the fact that he had made Tifa scream with pleasure because Rufus was threatening his job. Oh, and his colleagues all knew. Sure, there was that pride he felt, but mainly he was pissed.

"Reno," Tseng said in a tone that commanded Reno to enter his office, but it was neither an outright demand nor a question.

The red-haired Turk sighed and once again rose to walk into his boss' office to get reamed.

"Yes sir?" he asked as he approached the desk.

"Just get Rufus the information he wants and try to remember the building is bugged."

Could this day get more humiliating?

"That all, sir?"

"Yes, get back to your assignment."

Reno left Tseng's office with his shoulders slumped and his tongue pressing against his cheek in irritation. Neither Rude nor Elena would look at him as he passed their desks. Whatever. He held his head high as he left the building to return to Tifa's. It hadn't been that long, maybe she was still in bed.

Her front door was still open when he returned to Seventh Heaven, though she was not in the bar. He walked upstairs to find her sitting in her kitchen wearing her robe. She was seated at the kitchen island, with her foot up on the seat and her knee bent under her chin as she sipped on coffee. Reno made sure to note that her hips were shifted away from the window so Rude, once he got back to the roof, wouldn't be able to see under her robe with that telescope.

For once she wasn't startled to find him standing near her. Instead she smiled and put her coffee mug down before standing up to greet him. She stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms about his neck, reaching up to kiss him. Reno accepted her soft, warm lips but glanced over her head at the window in an absentminded attempt to see if Rude was watching. He knew he wouldn't be able to see Rude but couldn't help taking notice of the fact he knew they were likely being watched.

"Everything okay?" Tifa asked, tilting her head and knitting her eyebrows together with concern. He had been frustrated, but one look into those big brownish red eyes of hers just melted that anger away.

Reno sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island as if it were a perfectly normal thing for him to be in Tifa's kitchen in the morning. She brushed a hand along his shoulders and walked around the counter to grab another coffee mug and pour Reno a cup.

"Eh, just work crap," Reno said, trying to answer her question accurately without pissing off the people listening in on them. He took a sip of his coffee and exhaled through his mouth in delight. "How is your coffee _this_ good?"

Tifa smiled and took another sip from her mug. She shrugged. "That's top secret," she said with a wink.

"I won't tell," Reno said, holding up two fingers and then running them in a cross pattern on his chest.

"It's really nothing special, and I assume you'd be too lazy to steal the recipe anyway…" she trailed off, walking to the edge of the island and setting down her mug to lean on her arms. "I add a vanilla bean to the grounds and a dash of nutmeg once it's poured."

"I guess I should have known you'd be able to mix more than alcohol."

Tifa laughed. "Surprised? I can also cook and put together an outfit and combine materia," she said in a mocking tone.

"Okay, okay you're right – I guess I always just saw you as a hot fighting bartender," Reno joked.

"Oh? You think I'm hot?" Tifa asked, walking around the island back to where Reno was sitting. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Damn straight," he said with a little squeeze of her ass. She yelped but started laughing.

"You are…" she looked down at him, suddenly finding herself amazed by his aquamarine eyes and playfulness. "You are something else."

She hadn't expected to be so comfortable around him this morning. She felt like she did when Cloud lived here – before the headaches. He used to act like this around her. But Reno was not Cloud, and the Turk didn't treat women this way. She pulled back, looking confused.

"What did I tell you weeks ago? I'm a pretty unbelievable guy," Reno responded before noticing her changed expression. "What's wrong?"

"Everything," Tifa said, the color fading from her face. She motioned around the room with her hands as she continued: "This. Us. All of _this_. It's all wrong."

She was backing away from him as if she had dreamt their whole relationship and had just woken up. Now it was Reno's turn to be confused. Tifa's eyes darted around the room and she felt a panic attack coming.

How did she get to this point with Reno? How long had Cloud been gone? Why was she in her kitchen, in a robe, with Reno of the Turks, the man who murdered her friends in Sector 7? Had she really forgiven him for that? She thought that she hated him just a few weeks ago, how had that changed?

She clutched her chest and tried to slow her breathing as the questions whirled through her head and made her dizzy. Had he drugged her? She thought back to Nibelheim, Junon, Costa del Sol. All those things happened, right? She had allowed him to become her… friend and more?

"Tifa?" Reno stood up and walked slowly toward her as she backed away from him like she was seeing him clearly for the first time.

"I… I need to be alone," she said as she gasped for air and turned to the hallway leading to her bedroom.

"Tifa!" but she was already stumbling away from him as quickly as she could muster.

Reno caught up to her as she lunged for her bed, telling him to get away from her as she curled up into the fetal position and clutched a pillow to her chest, still trying to breathe.

Oh, Reno knew a panic attack when he saw one. He used to get them occasionally before he joined the Turks but had learned over the years to control them. He knew whatever Tifa was panicking about involved him, but he knew he needed to help her, so he picked her up by her shoulders and got her into a seated position on the bed. She tried to look away from him but he kept his gaze on hers.

"Tifa, listen to me," he said in his most soothing voice. "You're having a panic attack, but I can help you through it. Just keep your eyes on me. Focus on me."

She tried to get away from him a few more times but he held her firm, making sure there was enough distance between him that she wouldn't feel confined. He started taking deep breaths and she naturally tried to match his breathing. Once she had done so she finally focused her eyes on his, even though he was the source of her panic. Well, he wasn't really the source, but the idea of him brought out the attack.

"Just say with me: This shall pass. This shall pass," he said it over and over as she tried to slow down her heart rate.

"This shall pass, this shall pass," she repeated with him.

"Tifa, I'm here for you," Reno cooed. "Nothing's going to hurt you so long as I'm around."

Cloud had said that to her before. As her breathing slowed down, and the violent butterflies began to dissipate from her stomach, she started to cry. Once he was sure she was no longer panicking, Reno wrapped his arms around her tightly. He didn't know what caused her panic attack and now her crying. He pet her head and let her sob into his chest.

"I… can't… I… just…" she seemed to be starting a lot sentences but finishing none of them.

Tifa had never loved another man besides Cloud. She had never let another man into her home as a romantic partner. And because the only other man in her life had been Cloud, she _certainly_ had never moved this quickly with another man. A lifetime, that was her usual pace.

"I'm sorry…" she sobbed.

Reno pushed her back and held her by her upper arms. He looked into her sad eyes and let out a short laugh.

"For what? The panic attack? I used to get them all the time," he said.

Tifa shook her head as more tears fell.

"No, for this. I can't…" she trailed off again, choking on her tears.

Reno's heart started to race. He felt like she was about to tell him something he didn't want to hear. Wait, how did he sense that? He'd never been let down by a woman before, how would he even know what this kind of dread felt like?

"You can't what?" he asked, more afraid than he thought possible.

"I don't know how this happened," Tifa cried, looking away from him.

"How what happened?"

"This! I hated you just a few weeks ago. You killed my friends…"

Reno furrowed his brow and waited for her to continue. Maybe she just needed to get this all out before he could talk his way back into her good graces. She had been _so_ happy last night, and she seemed perfectly fine up until just a few minutes ago.

"But we've moved past that."

"Have we?"

"I thought so… remember Junon and Costa del Sol?" a pit was forming in his stomach.

"It's just…" she fell from his grip back onto the bed and cried into her pillow the word Reno did _not_ want to hear. He placed a hand on her and gently rubbed her back. He could salvage this. He always could.

"Tifa…" he trailed off for a moment. He didn't want to say anything positive or negative about Cloud, but damn he wished Tifa could get over that pathetic loser. He then realized that she must not have cried over him in some time. He again picked her up by the shoulders and brought her into a seated position. He placed a finger under her chin to force her to look up at him. "Are you worried you've moved on too soon?"

Tifa's eyes widened and her irises appeared to quiver. How did he know? Oh, he was a Turk, that's how. They were good at reading people.

"I'm sorry," she said, now fighting back tears. Reno wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I told you, don't sweat it. You had a panic attack because you have feelings for me," he was getting cocky now, "I get it."

His last line at least got her to laugh.

"I don't think that's it…" she said.

"Okay, Lockhart, you don't have to admit it." He waved a hand as if it were unimportant.

The truth was Tifa had suddenly felt like she was in a relationship with a man who was not relationship material, and it scared her. She had always heard about people getting cold feet in relationships when they were too close to a commitment, but she always thought it was just an excuse. Cloud was always in the back of her mind – where was he, was he okay, was he coming back, if he did come back what would she do about Reno? It all hit her at once when Reno seemed to be acting toward her just like Cloud.

It had been some dream-like game when Reno was being Reno and acting like he was just in it for the sex, but she suddenly thought there might be something more to his recent actions. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

It was at that moment they both realized the satin robe Tifa had been wearing was… not really covering her much. It was still tied but had loosened so that the lapel was spread open at her chest, covering one breast fully but exposing the other up to the nipple. It was also open at the bottom revealing red lacy panties.

"Ahem," Reno said with a fake cough into his fist, thinking it was probably not a good time to paw at her. Tifa quickly gathered the robe in the middle to cover herself.

"I should… probably finish getting ready," she said before leaning over to kiss his forehead. "Thank you."

She scooted off the bed and turned away from him to tie the bathrobe again. She grabbed some clothes out of her dresser and rushed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Reno watched as she skittered about in embarrassment. Once she closed the door, he leaned back on the bed with a satisfied grin on his face. That was a close one.

He almost lost her. She was heading down the path toward pushing him out of her life, but now he thought he still had a chance. A weird thing happened when he was trying to calm her down from her panic attack: He found himself _wanting_ to help her and protect her. He had worried about her wellbeing and wanting to fight away the demons that were haunting her. He felt an odd connection when he held her, like he wasn't just holding her, he was absorbing some of her anguish.

In the bathroom, Tifa splashed some water on her face and dried off. _"What the hell was that?"_ she asked herself. She would definitely have to call Yuffie once Reno was gone to find out.

She never had a panic attack before, and she _never_ wanted to break down in front of anyone, least of all Reno. Yet he had been kind and gentle and understanding. Maybe she hadn't scared him off.

She returned to the bedroom to find him lying back on the bed. He jolted up at her presence and smiled.

"Feel better?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and grinning. Tifa nodded.

"I'm sorry about that, I've never had a panic attack before," she said, looking at her feet sheepishly. "Thank you for helping me."

"Hey, I caused it with my irresistibility, didn't I?" he said in such a way that made it not sound like a question. Tifa rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"You going to the theater today?" Reno asked. Tifa sighed.

"No, I think I'll take it easy today before I open the bar."

Reno's lips slowly curled into a thin, wild grin. Tifa shook a finger at him.

"And none of _that_," she said, forcing Reno's grin to turn into an exaggerated frown.

"Okay, okay, no fun," he said, putting his hands up defensively. Tifa had a moment of déjà vu. Reno had said almost that exact thing with that exact gesture back before he stitched up her leg. It felt like so long ago.

"So, what do you want to do if we're not going to build walls and fight monsters?" Reno asked. Tifa gave him a strange look.

"Well, _I'm_ going to relax, don't you have to patrol?"

"I probably should, but I'll let the police handle it today."

"Aren't you leaving Rude all alone out there?"

Reno had forgot he couldn't use the "Rude is sick" excuse again today since the bald man proved he was healthy the night before.

"Uh, he's actually on a special assignment right now," Reno said, scratching the back of his head. Tifa clearly didn't buy it but didn't feel like arguing. "You know a great way to relax?"

Tifa's eyes narrowed at him. "I told you, I'm not doing any of _that_." Reno laughed.

"You gotta trust me more, babe, there's more to me than sex."

"There is?"

"Come here," he said, patting the bed beside him.

So far, Tifa thought, this was not helping his claim. But she obliged and joined him on the bed.

"Now, do as I do," Reno said. Tifa tepidly agreed.

First, he brought his palms together in front of him like he was meditating. Tifa followed along. Then, he took a deep breath. Finally, he put his hands – which were still together – to the side of his face and laid down on the pillow.

Once Tifa had done the same, Reno put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"See? Relaxing," he said. Tifa giggled.

She hadn't thought she was tired, but shortly after she brought her head down onto the pillow she was napping.

Reno could practically hear Rufus breathing down his neck and telling him to get information from Tifa. He worried Shinra wouldn't give him much more time before it just came and took her away. He didn't see how kidnapping a torturing a member of AVALANCHE wouldn't leak to the press and damage the company further, but Rufus had been rather obsessed with saving the world lately.

Reno wasn't exactly tired when he suggested Tifa take a nap, that was more for her benefit. He, instead, laid awake studying her pretty features and thinking of a way to get Shinra the information without violating her trust. There really was no way, but maybe if he got her to give a _little_ information it might get Rufus off his back. He rubbed her back gently so as not to wake her, realizing he had never watched a woman sleep like this before. He suddenly felt like a creep. This is supposed to be romantic?

He bet everyone back at HQ had a good laugh over her panic attack. He didn't know for sure that they had been listening, but he was pissed off anyway. They had been listening as soon as the bugs were installed early in the morning, of _course_ they were listening all day. Rufus probably had it playing through headphones while he was at the gym.

If they said anything to him about her panic attack he'd… well, he'd definitely think of something mean that wouldn't get him fired.

As he was quietly making his blood boil over perceived insults, Tifa's eyes fluttered open. Reno pretended he was just waking up as well. Couldn't have her knowing he had watched her sleep.

"Evening, princess," he told her while faking a yawn.

Tifa yawned for real and smiled back at him.

"You stayed," she said, almost as if she had been surprised.

"Of course."

The sky was getting dark outside. It was probably close to opening time. Reno flopped over on his back and rested his hands behind his head.

"Wanna go away this weekend?" he asked. Tifa looked at him and blinked a few times. Had he really just asked that?

"I, um, I don't think I'm, um, ready," she stammered. "Even if I was, I'm, um, already going away this weekend."

Reno marveled at how cute she was while turning him down. Her AVALANCHE buddies must be planning something. He faked a wound.

"You are? With who?" he said with mock jealousy. Tifa sat up, suddenly getting defensive.

"Just my old friends," she insisted as if she were actually concerned he thought she was seeing someone else.

"Oh yeah? You guys need a lift?" he asked with a wink. Tifa smiled.

"I'm hoping Cid's airship will be fixed by then," she said.

So, they were going far enough away to need the airship, and Cid was definitely going with. Interesting. Maybe Rufus could work with that for now.

"Well, if not, you know who to call," he said, poking himself in the chest with his thumb.

"Thank you," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I should probably get the bar ready for opening."

Reno helped Tifa prepare for opening – well, he sat at the bar and started drinking while watching her work – and remained in his usual seat when Rude entered. The bald Turk didn't look like any emotions were running through him when he discovered his partner already in the bar. Tifa would have thought he'd look suspicious, surprised, or even mad, but he didn't look like he cared at all.

She served Rude his drink and continued with her evening. It was Tuesday, so the bar was pretty slow, but she still tried to avoid looking over at the Turks so as not to cause a rift. It was a little embarrassing for her, still, to know what Rude might have seen back in Junon and now what Reno had seen today. He had stayed while she napped, but she kept thinking that he would disappear soon and never look back after watching her cry over another man. He seemed to be acting completely normal around her, but that didn't mean much to her. He could just be acting.

The Turks paid their tab and were starting to head out after she closed down the bar that night. Her cheeks flushed as she prepared to speak.

"Reno?" she asked from behind the bar when he and Rude were just opening the door to leave. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He spun around at the sound of her voice. He held up a finger for Rude to wait for him for a moment before the bald man went outside and Reno walked up to Tifa. She bit her lower lip and shifted her weight onto one foot so she could tap the floor with her other one.

"I, um," she was stammering again, and not looking at him. She took a deep breath. "Would you stay with me again? After what happened earlier… I'd just feel safer if you were here."

Reno's eyes lit up as she spoke. Hell yeah he would share a bed with Tifa Lockhart! He walked over to her and rubbed her upper arms.

"Sure, let me just say goodbye to Rude and I'll be right back," he said.

She nodded and he was out the door.

Rude was standing on the sidewalk about a hundred feet from Seventh Heaven. Reno strolled over to him and lit a cigarette. He had needed to talk business with Rude all night but couldn't with the bar being bugged.

"She ask you to stay?" Rude asked. Reno nodded and puffed on his cigarette.

"Yeah, and man, I gotta ask you a favor."

Rude crossed his arms over his chest.

"What?" he asked. Reno rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and smirked.

"I need you to try and convince Tseng and Rufus that we should work with AVALANCHE on this one instead of trying to steal the glory," Reno said, lowering his gaze to the ground.

"I mean, I agree with you…" Rude said, "but Rufus… I don't know."

"You all listen in today?"

Rude averted his gaze.

"Don't know, after you left, I was told to come back here and watch you two."

"They're still making you do that even though they can hear inside?"

"Just today. I'm on listening duty tomorrow."

"This sounds like a real hassle for everyone."

Rude mumbled something under his breath.

"Hey! Today I found out that wherever they're going and whatever they're doing, it's happening this weekend!" Reno insisted.

He had been doing his job. He may have been close to Tifa already, but it wasn't like she was telling her friends about him or inviting him along on their adventures. He still had to warm her up, and he was doing a damn _fine_ job of it.

"Just, try to say something to Tseng, please?" Reno pleaded.

Rude sighed heavily. "Fine," he said, before turning and walking toward his apartment.

Reno watched him for a minute and discarded his cigarette butt. Things with Rude weren't okay, and this "special assignment" of Reno's wasn't helping. He didn't want his best friend to be mad at him. Maybe he really should have waited until Rude was okay with it all before he went back to Tifa. He turned to look over his shoulder at Seventh Heaven. The warm yellow lights from inside seemed to be begging him to come back. He couldn't resist.

He entered the bar to Tifa's relief.

"I'm back, baby, but I gotta ask a favor," he said before she could even welcome him back. "Can I take a shower here? Haven't been back to my place in a while."

"Oh!" Tifa exclaimed. She hadn't even thought about that. "Of course, go ahead."

Reno resisted the urge to ask Tifa to join him. Not tonight. Tonight he had to be the guy who was there for her, not the guy who pawed her, even if the latter was more fun.

As soon as Tifa heard Reno enter the bathroom upstairs she grabbed her PHS to call Yuffie. The young ninja answered on the second ring.

"Yuffie? I need some advice."

"Whatcha need, kid," Yuffie asked as if she were Tifa's elder.

"I had a panic attack today… I think it was because of Reno."

"_What?_ What did he do?" Yuffie practically screamed through the phone.

"Nothing!" Tifa insisted. "He was being really sweet. He actually reminded me of Cloud and then I started thinking about Cloud and I couldn't breathe and I had to get away but he helped me."

"Who helped you? Cloud?"

"No! Reno! He calmed me down and stayed with me even when I started crying."

"Over who? Reno?"

"No! Cloud!" Jeez, Yuffie was her best friend, but try to keep up.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ I can't keep up with all these names," the ninja retorted. "So, what's wrong?"

"I just can't get over the fact that I've been spending so much time with Reno, considering who he is and what he's done and the fact I still miss Cloud…"

"Well, look," Yuffie said. She was clearly eating something. "We don't know where Cloud is or if he's coming back. I _told_ you to move on, so what's the big deal?"

"I've…I've only ever known Cloud," Tifa said sadly.

"Oh," Yuffie said. "Yeah, you were pretty much head over heels for him all this time, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"But he's not here anymore, is he?" Yuffie asked. "So, I wouldn't worry about anything else. If things work out with Reno then there's no problem."

"That's just it. Things do seem to be working out with Reno."

"And that scares you?"

"A little bit, yeah," Tifa said quietly. "What if I get hurt again?"

"What if you don't?"

Tifa realized she no longer heard the water upstairs. She then listened as footfalls stepped along the wood floors upstairs above her head and then over to the top of the stairs, before Reno walked down them wearing nothing but a towel.

"I gotta go," Tifa said quickly into her phone before flipping it shut without waiting for Yuffie's response.

"Did I interrupt something?" Reno asked.

"Nope, just Yuffie," Tifa said before walking over to him and ruffling his wet hair.

"You're dripping all over my floor," Tifa pretended to be mad.

"Well, it was either a towel around my waist or a towel around my hair," Reno responded. "I guess I could have grabbed your robe…"

Oh God, they would _certainly_ get a kick out of that over at HQ.

Tifa laughed.

"I'll get you another towel," she said as she passed him to go upstairs.

Reno eagerly followed her up. He may be playing "the good guy" tonight, but that didn't mean he couldn't flirt and show off – so long as he tried to keep things quiet.

Tifa tossed a second towel over his head, obstructing his vision. He brought his hands up to his head to dry his hair as Tifa closed the bathroom door behind her. Reno could hear her going through her nightly routine of washing her face, brushing her teeth, and rinsing her mouth out. He pulled on his boxer briefs and wrapped the other towel around his head as best he could. How did women do this?

Tifa emerged from the bathroom wearing a light pink slip dress with lace edging. Reno forgot for a minute that he had his hair wrapped in a towel until Tifa started laughing so hard she brought an arm around her stomach. Well, at least she wasn't laughing at him in underwear.

"What, you don't find me sexy?" Reno asked, doing an awkward dance.

Tifa nearly fell to her knees laughing at him as he danced closer to her, still wearing that towel on his head. When he reached out to put his arms around her she tried to escape. She was laughing too hard to do anything else.

"Come on, you know you want to dance with me, Lockahart!" he teased as he chased her around the room. She hopped up onto the bed and crossed it to get to the other side of the room from him, still trying to catch her breath from laughing.

"Stop, stop!" she pleaded, falling back onto the bed and clutching her stomach.

He jumped onto the bed next to her and shimmied up to her until the towel fell off his head and covered her.

"There, happy?" he asked as she looked up at him from underneath the towel, coughing.

"You're insane, you know that?" Tifa asked when she'd regained her composure.

"You love it," Reno said immediately before he wished he hadn't said that.

There was an awkward silence before he "booped" her on the nose to change the mood.

"I take it back," she said. "You're not insane, you're just weird."

"I can live with that," Reno said, swooping her up in his arms and laying her down on her side of the bed. She turned to him and caught his gaze.

"Are, are you okay just sleeping next to me without anything else tonight?" she asked, frightened. Reno took a deep, exaggerated breath.

"I think so," he finally said. "Besides, it's not like I can't touch you _at all_, right?"

Tifa smiled and turned out the lights.

"Good night, Reno," she said as she settled in to face him.

"G'night, Lockhart," he said before running his hand along her cheek and kissing her on the lips.

He put his arm around her again and pulled her close to his chest. Sure, it would have been nice if she returned the favor he had given her last night, but if this was getting her to warm up to him more then he was all for it. When she turned away from him, he kept his arm around her, but let his hand move to her breast. She didn't scold him.

**End notes: Okay, maybe that chapter was too "cute" for this story, but I felt Tifa needed to come to terms with everything going on in her life. She's been comparing Reno to Cloud this whole time and I think it just sort of hit her that Cloud was really gone… For now.**


	27. Love Grows

**A/N: Rated M for language and mild sexual content.**

Chapter 27:

"Sir?" Rude said as he knocked on the already opened door to Tseng's office.

Tseng grunted in approval as Rude entered. Clearly, this was going to be a conversation of few words. They just needed Vincent Valentine to _really_ have a party.

Rude closed the door behind him and approached Tseng's desk, though he gave no indication he was nervous or that he even had something to discuss privately. He sat down in a chair in front of Tseng and removed his glasses.

"I think we should work with AVALANCHE on this one," he said, taking a cloth out of his pocket to clean his sunglasses.

Tseng sat forward in his chair and clasped his hands under his chin.  
"Why?" the leader of the Turks asked.

"They're not our adversaries anymore," Rude said, returning his sunglasses to their rightful place.

Tseng sat back in his chair and considered Rude's proposal. "Does Reno agree?"

"It was his idea. We informed Rufus."

"What did he say?"

"Only to join if necessary."

Tseng sat staring at Rude for a few moments, giving off no expression to explain his thinking. It was true AVALANCHE was no longer fighting Shinra and there was no need to treat them as the enemy, but Rufus was in charge and he made the final decisions.

"I'll talk to him," Tseng said after another minute.

Rude nodded and stood up to leave the room. Though little was said, he knew Tseng was onboard and if anyone could convince Rufus, it was Tseng, though that wasn't saying much. Rufus had his own ideas on how to do things and didn't like input from anyone else. Still, it was their only chance.

Rude returned to his desk and put his headphones on to listen in to Seventh Heaven. He had been tasked with listening live while Elena was forced to listen to the information from the night before. The occasional "aww" escaped her lips as she listened, finding herself looking at Reno in a different light. Maybe he _was_ capable of genuine love.

_Meanwhile…_

Waking up, for Reno, was like coming to after passing out. He always seemed confused about where he was and how he had gotten there – even when he was in his own home. He opened one eye that morning, as the other was obstructed by a pillow. He was not in his own bed or his own apartment. He studied what he could see of his surroundings without moving anything but his eye.

There was a nightstand with his phone, and beyond that, on the adjacent wall, was a dresser with a bunch of framed photographs on top. He could see just one well enough. Tifa was in it, as was Barret, his kid, and _Cloud_. Also, three other people. Oh, those friends of hers he murdered. That certainly couldn't be a good reminder for her. Maybe he could steal the picture or put it face down, or place it in the back? Nah, that would all be too obvious. Dammit, she might as well have had a book called "101 Reasons to Hate Reno" on her shelf. She probably did.

He was sprawled across her bed as if he were a rag doll that had been thrown from some height; his legs were spread wide and his left foot as well as his left arm were hanging off the bed. He was face down and his right arm was bent back uncomfortably. The bedsheets were gathered at his waist, leaving his torso and legs exposed and somewhat cold. He knew he wasn't alone, but even taking up as much of the bed as he did, he didn't feel anyone else beside him. He batted his right arm a bit until he felt skin against the back of his hand.

With strained effort, he pushed himself up until his arms were straight and his back was arched down. He yawned like a lion first adjusting to the morning.

Nope, no point in getting up. Try again later.

He flopped back down to the bed but turned his head to look in the other direction. Ah, the back of Tifa's head, a much better view than some of his murder victims. She stirred when he disturbed the mattress but didn't seem to wake. Reno now saw where most of the sheets had gone. She had them clutched in her hands while facing away from him. Sheet thief.

Reno shifted to his side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, scooting up against her and inhaling her scent. She smelled like some combination of beautiful smelling things, flowers and fruits; he didn't know. Whatever was on her soap bottles he had used the night before.

Oh shit, that's right. He smelled like her now too. This would not stand. He couldn't go about his day smelling like a lady and wearing a three-day old suit. He'd have to make a trip home before he started work. Though, to be fair, he had technically been working for about 48 hours straight. Probably wouldn't get an overtime bonus though.

He heard Tifa moan softly as she awoke and squeezed her tighter against him. She turned over and smiled at him.

"Morning, sheet hog," he told her.

"Yeah? Well, you were taking up the whole bed," she retorted. She sat up and stretched while yawning. Reno thought she looked cute even when first waking up and found himself with a smile etched across his face.

"Will you be sticking around today as well?" she asked him, sliding her legs off the bed and standing up to stretch again.

"Sure, babe, I just wanna run back to my place to change and get my manly musk back."

Tifa turned sharply to look at him and smiled. He said the weirdest things.

"What, you didn't like my soaps?"

He sat up on the bed and crawled to the edge near her.

"They're fine for a _girl_, but I can't go around smelling like couscous all day."

She looked down at him in confusion.

"Couscous? Do you mean hibiscus?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Men shouldn't smell like biscuits and candy."

She laughed at his lack of knowledge of basic flowers and fruits.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna hop in the shower so _I_ smell like biscuits and candy."

"Sounds good, you make yourself pretty while I—" Tifa's sour expression cut him off.

"Huh?" she asked, looking irritated.

"I mean, make yourself pretty-er," he tried again. Nope, also wrong. Tifa crossed her arms and looked disgruntled. "Shit, I don't know what to say to women in the morning…"

"Excuse me?"

Reno realized he was putting his foot in his mouth – what else was new – and had to get out before completely pissed her off.

"I, uh, I'm just gonna go before I dig this grave any further…"

"Good idea," Tifa said, swatting him playfully on the chest before walking into the bathroom.

Reno started to get dressed but found it difficult to keep from joining her in the shower once he heard the water running. The thought of pinning her up against the shower wall, slipping inside her as hot water rained down on both of them…

No. Stop. He had to get home and change so he could get back to work. It was a rough life, sleeping next to a beautiful woman and flirting with her all day to get information, but it had to be done.

Once he had his weapons secured, he let his mind drift one more time to thoughts of Tifa in the shower before heading downstairs and out the front door.

The sky was clear and pale blue as he walked jauntily down the street back toward his apartment, his hands deep in his pockets and a cigarette hanging from his lip. A rather feline grin stretched across his lips as he kept close to the buildings to avoid monsters. The sun capped the tips of his fiery red spikes with an icy orange glare and he ran a hand through them. He took a deep breath to inhale the fresh mid-morning air. The streets were empty except for beasts, which he preferred to crowds of people possibly smelling his feminine soap.

He figured he was giving off an air that told the creatures that he would _burn_ them to the ground if they came close. And he would. He hadn't really been able to destroy something for a while – not since before Meteor, actually. He was half tempted to go on a rampage against some old computer equipment with a nine-iron. He and Rude had done that once when work was a little slow _years_ ago. Maybe he should ask if Tifa wanted to join? He felt like she of _all people_ needed to let off some steam right now. Of course, he would prefer she use _him_ to blow off steam, but one couldn't be too picky.

It felt odd for a Turk to be out in the daylight alone. They may have compared AVALANCHE to cockroaches – when one is crushed, more will take its place – but the Turks were more like wolves, hunting in packs. Rarely did one Turk appear, though he had to admit he had done some of his most violent work while alone. He took out Sector 7 alone. Maybe he wouldn't have felt so guilty about it if another Turk had been there. Seeing that picture on Tifa's dresser reminded him that he was the real monster in this town, yet somehow Tifa didn't see that anymore.

When he was just a few blocks from his apartment building he felt his phone vibrate. Rufus. He flipped it open and brought it up to his ear, his third cigarette of the morning sticking to his lower lip.

"Yeah Chief?"

"It seems your fellow Turks agree with you," Rufus sneered.

Reno was honestly shocked. They _agreed_ with him? On something?

"They do?"

"Tseng has suggested we work with AVALANCHE to find a solution to the planet's problem regarding monsters," Rufus breathed into the phone, as if he were being told to say this by _his_ superior.

"Uh huh?"

"I disagree, but if you must use that as a ruse to get the barmaid to talk, go ahead."

Reno felt one of his nostrils twitch. She had a name.

"Can I remove the bugs from the building?"

"No."

He obviously wanted to ask why, but knew he'd be pushing his luck if he didn't take what he could get from Rufus at that moment. He faked his most appeasing tone while saying, "S'ok, Chief."

As usual, Rufus hung up without saying anything. Reno rolled his eyes and dropped the PHS back into his pocket. Rude had done it. At least he no longer had to worry about undermining Rufus by helping Tifa and her friends – if she'd let him, that is. If Cid fixed that airship, he probably wouldn't be invited along to wherever they were going this weekend.

Reno stopped outside his building and brought his index and middle fingers up to his lips to remove the cigarette, exhaling casually. He took one last short drag off the thing before flicking it away and entering his building.

There were several people in the lobby who looked like they wanted to go outside but couldn't risk their safety. Reno glided past them, hunched over, his eyes straight until he was in the elevator and pushed the button for his floor.

Ah, home. The cleaning lady had come while he was away, which was a relief. Niamh. He paid her extra to keep her mouth shut about anything she may hear or see in the apartment. Couldn't let just anyone into his home, what with all the ammunition and contraband lying around – not to mention the office supplies he'd stolen from Shinra.

He unhooked his weapons and placed them on the couch before unbuttoning his shirt and walking into his bedroom. He hung his suit jacket up on the door to indicate it needed dry cleaning and tossed his shirt onto the floor. His pants joined his jacket while his belt landed on the bed and his socks and boxer briefs went to the floor somewhere. The goggles hooked around the bedpost.

He stepped into his own shower to wash that couscous biscuit smell off of his skin and to be alone with his thoughts. He was rather enjoying his time with Tifa, whether he was mauling her or not. It was an odd discovery for him, learning that he was actually interested in what she said and wanted to know more about her. He figured that'd get old pretty fast. What was there more to know? She was from Nibelheim, knew how to fight, and smelled like crickets. Wait, no, _that_ wasn't right. She helped kill Sephiroth and destroy his employer and she looked good in a skirt. Oh yeah, Sephiroth attacked her when she was 15 and her hair felt like silk against his cheek when he slept.

Nope, not much else to know.

He exited the shower and toweled off, spending a little extra time drying a certain part of his anatomy. He wrapped the towel around his waist and turned his head to the side to smell his shoulder.

"Ahhh, much better," he said as he approached the mirror. He brought his fingers up to his jaw and felt the stubble that had grown while he had been with Tifa. It was prickly, but hardly noticeable. And patchy. Stupid genes.

He lathered up and brought the razor down in one slow, fluid motion from his jaw to his neck. He took some extra time that day to ensure his face was smooth before applying his after shave and brushing his teeth. With his favorite suit jacket in need of cleaning, he grabbed his second favorite out of the closet along with a crisp white dress shirt. He pulled on his underwear, socks, and pants, leaving the belt buckle undone while he buttoned his shirt. As he did occasionally, he tucked in his shirt and checked himself out in the mirror. It showed off how thin he was, but as always, he untucked his shirt and buckled his belt. He just wasn't that guy.

He flipped his jacket over his shoulders and adjusted the collar. Looking good, as always. He grabbed his goggles from the bedpost and secured them to his head – one never knew when one would need goggles. He grabbed his weapons and took one last look around his home to see if he had forgotten anything.

He suddenly realized that it didn't feel like "home" anymore. Previously, the whites, blacks, and grays let him know he was a single, virile man, but now, they felt cold, sterile, and empty. He blinked a few times to see if he could get the original sensation back, but failed, so he locked the door and headed back to Tifa's.

She was in her kitchen when he returned, but she was fully dressed this time and eating a piece of dry toast while sipping her coffee. That delicious, delicious coffee. He wasn't sure if he should do anything differently this time to prevent her from having another panic attack, but he figured he should try to act less casual in her home.

"Hey babe," he said as he approached her slowly.

She turned to look at him and smiled but didn't get up.

"Mind if I grab a cup of coffee?" he asked, heading to the cabinets.

She nodded. "Mugs are on the third shelf next to the fridge," she said, as if he hadn't learned where they were the day before.

Perhaps that really had been the problem; he was just too familiar in her home. He didn't mean to act like he had been coming there for months, it was just so easy with her to feel comfortable. Compared to his apartment now, this felt much warmer and homey to him.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and timidly sat next to her at the kitchen island.

"Whadya need help with today?" he asked.

Tifa had just bitten into her toast, holding her hand under her chin to catch the crumbs that fell when she broke the crisp bread. She held a finger up to Reno as she chewed to make him wait, so he took a sip of coffee. Nectar of the Gods, indeed.

"I need to stock up," she said.

"On… alcohol, thongs, Reno time?" he asked. She placed her hand over her mouth politely and laughed.

"Supplies," she said through another bite.

"Condoms?"

She swatted him with her hand on his shoulder, hard. He gripped his arm and winced.

"Geez, lady, get those things registered, yo."

"No, I'm out of potions and ethers and some other stuff," she informed him.

Great, she gave him an opening.

"For your AVALANCHE reunion?"

"It's not a reunion," she said unhappily. A reunion would require Cloud.

"I can help you carry stuff, if you need," he said to try and get her to switch gears. "And I'm proud to offer you Turk service on your trip."

Tifa looked at him with one eye squinted in disbelief. What were the Turks up to?

"Heh, no thanks," she said, returning her gaze to her coffee and taking another sip.

"Hey, come on, we're past all that."

"We've moved past a lot but trusting the Turks to work with AVALANCHE is a bit of a stretch."

Reno brought a finger to his chin and looked up to the ceiling.

"What if I told you Rufus no longer wanted to be adversaries?"

"I'd think there was some deception afoot."

Reno put his hands up defensively. "No deception. Rufus wants to help heal the world any way he can, and AVALANCHE knows how to do that better than anyone else."

Tifa narrowed her eyes at him. "Thanks for letting me know, I'll take it under advisement."

"Has Cid fixed his airship yet?"

Tifa sighed. The Turks weren't interested in helping her and her friends. Even if Reno had gotten close to her for personal reasons, his job always came first. That suspicion she used to have of them playing one long con was creeping back up her neck again.

"No."

"Sounds like you could use a chopper pilot. I come with an excellent first mate."

Tifa chuckled at his wording. There was _no way_ the other members of AVALANCHE would accept or trust Turk help. Well, except maybe Yuffie. Vincent might not care. Wait, what was she thinking? She wasn't seriously considering this. Best case scenario, the Turks helped them search the Forgotten Capital for the information they need and then scamper away with what they found.

Reno turned to her and took her hands in his. She continued to look at him skeptically, assuming he would snatch her up like he had done the other night. Instead he just held her hands and looked deep into her eyes.

"Tifa, listen to me," he said, more serious than she was used to from him. "The Turks are _not_ going to give you trouble, I swear. We really do want to help."

Tifa's expression didn't change. He sounded sincere, but could she really trust him or his organization yet? He hadn't done anything nefarious since Nibelheim – that she knew of – but that didn't mean they weren't just waiting for an opportunity.

"I would have to clear it with the others…" she said slowly.

"I understand," he said, squeezing her hands. "If it makes it any easier, you can tell them you want to bring your lover boy along to play with."

Tifa laughed and punched him in the same arm she had smacked earlier. He again rubbed his arm and winced.

"Look, you don't want to drive or _walk_ wherever you're going, so at the very least the helicopter will be useful."

"That's for sure," she sighed.

He smiled sweetly at her. It didn't seem right, coming from him. She was much more comfortable with him looking devious. That look she could trust. This… sweetness… just didn't feel natural.

"Well, let's go get supplies anyway, I can call everyone later," she said, getting up and taking her mug and plate to the sink and running the water over them.

"Yes ma'am, official Turk assistance starts right now!" Reno said in that mock formal tone.

The item shop was just down the street from Seventh Heaven, but it took them nearly 20 minutes to get there due to a pack of Kalm fangs. The bastards wouldn't stop coming.

Tifa was punching two at a time, leaping off buildings, and stomping on the damn things while Reno whittled away at them with his mag rod and pistol. Still, they kept coming. Tifa performed Beat Rush, Somersault, Waterkick, Meteodrive, Dolphin Blow, Meteor Strike, _and_ Final Heaven, taking out no less than seven of the beasts, yet still found herself backed against Reno and surrounded.

"Glad you weren't out here by yourself today," Reno told her over his shoulder. He was struggling _with_ her, he couldn't imagine what would happen if she were alone and he and Rude hadn't passed by at the right moment.

"I think we're gonna have to run for it," Tifa responded as one of the fangs snapped its drooling, diseased mouth at her.

They took off side-by-side, plowing their way through the creatures and taking out as many as they could until they were able to dive inside the item shop. Reno leaned back against the door to keep them from getting inside.

"Gettin' rough out there?" the shop owner asked them.

"Just a large pack," Tifa said as she picked up a basket and walked toward the section she needed.

Reno came up behind her once the door stopped pounding behind him and took the basket from her. She smiled sweetly at him and started dropping items into it as she looked at her list.

"Thirty more hi-potions, 26 more ethers, twelve phoenix downs…"

"Geez, you guys going to the Northern Crater or something?" Reno asked, mostly out of confusion, but somewhat to pry.

"Nope, I just like to be prepared," Tifa said.

"What are you preparing for, another Meteor?"

Tifa laughed and looked at the shelves a little longer before walking to the counter, Reno struggling to carry the basket with two hands.

"Couldn't have gotten a cart, huh?" he asked as he heaved the basket onto the counter and picked up the items that dropped out. First the Kalm fangs, and now that; he was a little winded, but he tried to hide it.

"That'll be 51,600 gil," the cashier told her.

Reno's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You're going to drop that much on this junk? Is all of AVALANCHE going?"

He grimaced at his last sentence. He meant to make a joke but he knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"Oh, I thought you looked familiar, miss," the cashier said. "I'll give you a 5% discount for saving the world. It's the least I can do."

"Tell me about it," Reno said under his breath, crossing his arms. Tifa shot him a look.

Remembering why he was here, he reached in his pocket and removed a stack of gil. He licked his thumb and started counting the bills until he had a smaller – but still sizable – stack. "Here," he said, dropping it on the counter and pushing it toward the man.

Tifa put a hand on his and pulled the money back.

"No," she said. "I've got it."

Reno insisted. "No way. If the Turks are helping, the Turks are paying."

"The Turks?" the cashier asked angrily.

Reno sunk back a little bit. He'd been so focused on Tifa he forgot he was in public and couldn't identify himself. He didn't usually have that problem, since most people recognized the demeanor and the suit.

"Here's 50,000," Reno told the man. "Keep the change."

"Th, thank you, sir," the cashier said excitedly as he pulled the stack towards him in case Reno decided to take back his offer.

Reno insisted on carrying all the bags back and loaded them up onto each of his arms, the plastic handles digging into his wrists painfully. Tifa objected vehemently, leading him to allow her to carry one bag on her own. He was a man, dammit, he would carry all the items himself.

They got outside and noticed the Kalm fangs were milling about nearby.

"Uh, let's try to pass quietly," Reno whispered. "Otherwise you're gonna have to fight them."

Tifa rolled her eyes at him. He just _had_ to take all the bags.

They were able to sneak by the fangs without being detected and keep to the shadows for the trip home. Reno was losing feeling in his wrists and just a block away from bleeding when they reached Seventh Heaven. He quickly shuffled to the bar and lifted the bags onto it with his last ounce of arm strength.

Tifa laughed.

"Not such a great idea, huh?" she asked as she placed the bag he let her carry on the bar as well.

Reno sneered at her while rubbing his arms. He still looked manly, right?

Tifa started to put the items away in the back storage room. Once Reno regained feeling in his hands, he picked up a few potions and brought them back. He hadn't been in the back room before. It wasn't very impressive, but he was interested in the shelf where Tifa kept all her potions, ethers, and other health items. With what they had just purchased, the shelf was perfectly full, with each type of item in its place and arranged in rows. There were potions, hi-potions, ethers, phoenix downs, softs, hypers, you name it. Reno even noticed some mega elixirs.

_"Sweet,"_ he thought to himself. At least he knew where to come the next time he burnt his finger on a cigarette – which was a surprisingly common experience.

"So, when do you all leave?" Reno asked after Tifa placed all the plastic bags inside one of the plastic bags to take up to the apartment with her. What did she _need_ all those bags for?

"Soon," she said, cryptically.

"Aww, come on, I'm flying, aren't I?"

"Maybe, I still have to call the others."

"I still think you should go with the 'lover boy' cover story."

Tifa held up a sly warning finger to him and smiled.

"Fine, I'll call them, but can you take the chairs off the tables and place the drink menus?"

Reno looked at her like a deer in the headlights. She wanted _him_ to do _bar_ work? He stared at her as if she'd spoken another language.

"Oh come on, you know how chairs are supposed to look, don't you?"

Reno blinked a few times before laughing with a "yeah, yeah, yeah, you boss me around…" as he staggered to the tables.

Tifa took out her PHS and dialed a number as she walked into the storage room. She hugged herself with one arm while holding the phone to her ear.

"Hi, Yuffie?" she said quietly, hoping Reno wouldn't hear. "Would you be upset if the Turks flew us on Saturday?"

She had to hold the phone away from her ear as Yuffie screamed something about how cute it was that Tifa's new boyfriend offered to fly.

"He's not my boyfriend," she corrected. "They just, want to help, apparently."

"Well, it's still a-DOR-able," Yuffie swooned. "Of course your boyfriend can come."

"Yuffie…"

"I'm just messin' with ya, geez, take a joke!"

"I'll see you Saturday then. You'll be our last stop, probably, before we head over."

"Saving the best for last, I see," Yuffie said proudly. "I'll see you soon! AAAAAHHH I can't wait to see you two act all awkward around each other!"

"Bye, Yuffie," Tifa said before hanging up on her friend, who was still screeching.

Tifa scrolled up in her phone, looking for Vincent's name before remembering he didn't even have a phone.

"Well, it'll be a surprise for him then," she said out loud as she scrolled for the next name and pressed it.

"Nanaki?"

"Tifa, hello," the red beast said. "You almost ready?"

"Yes, but there's been a change of plans. The Turks say they want to help us and fly us out there."

"The Turks? Didn't they steal everything you and Vincent found in Nibelheim?"

"Yes, but…" Tifa didn't really know what to say. She knew Nanaki would be the one to push back out of him and Yuffie. "They promised they wouldn't this time."

"And you believe them?"

"Sort of," she said, peering out from the storage room to see Reno arranging the chairs as if he were an interior decorator, taking a step back after each one was turned over and examining it through his hands, which he formed into a rectangle. "They've been helping me a lot since Nibelheim without issue."

She could hear Nanaki sigh on the other end of the phone.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice without the airship. Unless you want to spend a week traveling."

"I really don't," she replied.

"Okay, see you Saturday, Tifa."

"Bye."

That call didn't feel good at all. Tifa wanted to believe Reno but knew that for the Turks, their loyalty was with Shinra. Even if _he_ wanted to help AVALANCHE, what if Rufus told him something else? Would he betray her in the end?

She put her phone away and remained in the storage room for a moment to gather her thoughts. She really didn't want to put AVALANCHE in danger by trusting the Turks. She hugged her arms to her body and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Reno had seemed sincere, but he had tricked her before.

She returned to the bar area to see that Reno hadn't even finished taking the chairs off the tables. She walked over and finished the rest while he acted hurt.

"Hey! I was designing!"

Tifa rolled her eyes and grabbed the drink menus to place them on the tables, since Reno clearly wasn't cut out for preparation work. Maybe if she needed a customer killed…

_A little later…_

Rude and Elena were some of the first people in the bar once it opened. He looked like he really needed a drink; she looked rather bubbly. Tifa poured Rude a glass of the expensive scotch and placed it in front of him. Reno was already seated next to him sipping from his own glass.

"Long day?" she asked Rude in the same tone she used for all her patrons, though it was slightly more familiar with him.

Rude grunted and nodded. It was _not_ pleasant sitting around all day listening in to Reno and Tifa's conversations hoping to hear something remotely useful. He had a notebook on his desk to take notes on any nuggets of information and so far he learned that Reno didn't know how to say "hibiscus," called himself Tifa's "lover boy" and _might_ be flying AVALANCHE somewhere this weekend. Elena hadn't fared much better, but she was keeping a separate notebook of – as she claimed – "romantic" things that Reno was doing to tease him with in the future. She said something about a "girl talk" conversation between Tifa and Yuffie but didn't give details.

"What'll you have, Elena?" Tifa asked cordially.

"Vodka-soda," the blonde responded.

Elena had been jealously listening to Tifa and Reno's evening-through-morning conversations all day, and though she hadn't learned anything useful for Rufus, she did feel she was listening to a relationship develop. Tifa and Reno were both crazy about each other and refusing to admit it, Elena heard, and it was driving her crazy. She felt like she was listening in on a soap opera. She was loving it but found herself wanting to reach through the recording devices to strangle the lovebirds when they didn't say what they needed to say.

Tifa poured Elena her drink and set about helping other customers, who were filtering in little by little and taking up the tables. It wasn't usually too busy Wednesday nights, but there were enough to keep her from the Turks for long periods of time. She was still nervous about being able to hide her relationship with Reno from the others. She now knew Rude knew about her and Reno but didn't want to look like she was rubbing it in his face.

She also couldn't help the feeling that Elena wanted to talk to her about something, but figured she was just seeing things.

It was awkward for Rude and Elena, predictably, since they knew things about Tifa now they'd rather not know and couldn't bring up things they heard on the tape. Elena was _dying_ to ask what Reno had done for her to make those noises and why she was still hung up on Cloud.

Rude would rather have not heard anything. Reno was technically his superior and wished the redhead could remember the apartment was bugged. Or maybe he did remember and couldn't help himself. Either way, it was the worst thing Rude listened to since that time one of the junior Turks tried to introduce him to "today's" music. Damn kids.

Reno tried to focus on his coworkers, but he was already scheming for what he could do with Tifa after the bar closed. With the bugs still installed – he didn't understand Rufus insisted they remain in place if they were going to help AVALANCHE – he wouldn't be able to have any fun.

Or maybe he should give her the night off… gah, he had never gotten to this point before. He didn't know what to do. He just knew what he was feeling.

In the end, he figured it was best to just leave when Rude and Elena did. What would he have done in the past? He wouldn't be aching to spend several nights in a row with a girl, that's for sure. So, he bid her goodbye, taking note of her expression – a mix of hurt and acceptance – and left with his colleagues for the long, dangerous walk back to his place.

It was for the best. He needed to give her time away from him to miss him, even if it meant he'd miss her, too. Besides, if he stayed away it meant no one could hear what they were saying.

When he entered his apartment again it felt even emptier than earlier in the day. His bedsheets felt like ice and he couldn't get comfortable, tossing and turning all night. Well, this would not stand. He needed to spend less time at Tifa's. He was losing himself in that girl and he needed to resist it with every fiber of his being.

**End notes: So, another chapter that didn't really go anywhere, but we're still building something. I have almost the entire ending already conceptualized, but I'm still working on how to get there. Hang in there.**


	28. Fireworks

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Again, if you don't like sex scenes, don't read further.**

Chapter 28:

_Flashback…_

He hadn't planned to say it that morning, it just kind of happened. The words just dropped from his mouth and hovered on the wind for far too long, in his opinion, before they seemed to reach her.

At first, she just stared at him, expressionless, as though he had said nothing at all. Had she not heard him? He considered saying it again, but he saw her eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion before a smile drifted across her lips. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she suddenly reached forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders. Had he made her upset? Why was she crying?

Cloud had been living with Tifa for nearly a year. The house and bar were built in Edge, and business was starting to pick up. Though they were a couple, those three little relationship words had never been said, only felt. Cloud had known how he felt about her since he was a kid, even if he did lose a few years due to Shinra's experiments on him. For Tifa, the realization came much later, after he had returned to her in Sector 7. She had thought she loved him while he away trying to become a SOLDIER, but realized years after the Nibelheim incident that she had just developed a crush because he was gone and might become famous. She had been embarrassed about it – thinking love was about a hero who would come rescue you when you needed it.

When she found him at that train station on that day, three years ago, she wasn't even sure it was him, but he knew things about her that he shouldn't have but also didn't know things he should have. As she was caring for him, she saw glimpses of the boy she once sort of knew in Nibelheim and a man who might just fight for her cause and protect her as he did so. Throughout their journey to defeat Sephiroth, she had a crush on him, spurned, of course, by jealousy over the attention he paid to Aeris, but she didn't feel comfortable admitting to herself that she truly loved Cloud until she found him half-dead in Mideel. When she realized that the fate of the planet no longer mattered to her if Cloud wouldn't be there with her, she knew it was real love. Everything else just crumbled away, and all that remained was Cloud.

She had been too afraid to tell him, of course. She was _always_ too afraid to tell him how she felt. The closest she came was that night under the Highwind. Even then, she chickened out and muttered something about words not being the only way to show people how one feels. It worked, of course, but she kicked herself afterward. She _needed_ the words more than the actions, and though Cloud remained in her life long after, the absence of the words always hung in the back of her mind, suggesting he might leave one day.

She had a nightmare the night before. Cloud always knew when she had nightmares and would hold her until she woke up so she wouldn't feel alone. She only had them about one of two things: Sephiroth in Nibelheim or Aeris' death.

"Nibelheim?" he asked her. He somehow always knew, yet in all honesty he was guessing each time.

She nodded her head and he held her close, running his fingers through her hair and feeling her clammy hands against his bare chest. He wouldn't complain about how she felt when she woke up from a nightmare, Lord knew he woke up covered in sweat from them often enough. They had both been through trauma and they accepted it in each other.

"Sephiroth is dead," he reminded her in a soft tone as she pressed her head against his chest.

It was sometime in the middle of the night. The only light in the room came from a streetlight outside, but it was enough for each of them to know where the other was.

"I know," she said softly, pressing her palm against one of his pectoral muscles. "But he's still there sometimes, at night."

"I know what you mean," Cloud responded.

He held Tifa until they both fell asleep again.

In the morning, he was watching her get ready in front of the mirror, wearing her robe that fell just below her buttocks. He was leaning against the door frame but she hadn't noticed. He thought about her beauty, for sure, but mostly about how he always wanted to keep her happy and safe so that the nightmares would stop. She had been doing that for him for two years, always trying to keep him together – literally putting him back together – and watching out for him as they fought their way around the planet.

He looked at her and couldn't imagine his life without her. She wasn't doing anything particularly interesting at that very moment, but in that moment he never felt closer to her, as if he had been distant in the recent past, even though he had been by her side throughout.

"Tifa," he said almost inaudibly. Still, she heard him and made a sound indicating as such.

He pushed off the door frame and walked toward her, but she didn't stop what she was doing. He reached out to place a hand on each of her shoulders and turn her to face him. She looked up at him with wide eyes, a little confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked as he rubbed her arms and stared at her for a touch too long.

"What would I do without you?" he asked in return, causing her to let out a soft laugh.

"I think we already found out the answer to that a couple times," she teased, holding up two fingers for emphasis. He laughed.

"Yeah," he responded. "I don't want to ever go through that again."

He pulled her in for a short kiss and released her again.

"Tifa…" he trailed off.

He had never said something like this. He had never really _felt_ something like this. He had thought he loved Aeris but came to realize that as lovely as she was, she was simply the person who helped teach him how to live again. She saw him as Zack, and his love for her was something he couldn't explain. It wasn't like a sibling love or a romantic love, but something else entirely. He respected her for forcing him to leave his past behind so that he could move on – with Tifa.

"I… love you," he told the woman standing in his embrace.

Tifa froze. She wasn't looking her best, she thought. Her hair was still a wet mess after her shower, and she hadn't brushed her teeth yet. Cloud was barely even awake. Maybe he was sleep walking? She didn't want to react if he hadn't meant to say the words, even though she longed to hear them.

She had always imagined being told "I love you" as part of some big display, like one would do with an engagement. She hadn't experienced it for real before, so she always thought it might come with flowers or a fancy dinner or something else. Now that he had said it, however, she realized it was best said in quieter circumstances, when one felt like saying it. Because love wasn't planned, it was felt. Of course, she probably would have thought differently if Cloud had told her some other way. She had been waiting to hear those words from him. She had thought about saying them to him but feared she would scare him by doing so.

So, she waited. And now that he had said them, she didn't know how to react.

Finally, she threw her arms around him and started to cry happy tears.

"I love you, too," she whispered into his ear.

_Present Day…_

Tifa startled awake in the middle of the night. Another nightmare. She hadn't had one in a while.

In the dream, she was her current age, with all her experiences, but for some reason living back in Nibelheim and working as a tour guide. It all seemed weird to her, even in the dream, but she wasn't conscious that it _was_ a dream. She felt an uneasiness as she led Sephiroth and Zack to the reactor at Mt. Nibel. Then – she couldn't remember how – but Sephiroth went crazy and killed her father, who had been alive again. Even though she felt she knew what would happen, she picked up Sephiroth's sword and ran after him. He grabbed the sword from her hands and slashed her across the chest. She could feel the pain as if it were that day in Nibelheim, and she woke up when she always did – as she was falling down the stairs, before Cloud could get to her.

She couldn't remember the last time she had this particular nightmare, but knew that the last time she woke up from it, Cloud had been there to comfort her. Now she was alone in her bed, covered in sweat, with tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and took a deep breath. She had to take care of herself now.

She got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to splash some warm water onto her face. She was doing just fine on her own. She didn't need Cloud to make her feel better after a nightmare like she was some little girl. And she didn't need a man in her bed to make her feel whole.

She knew better than to check what time it was and instead laid back down under the covers. Two more days and she would be on another adventure with her friends, even if she wasn't really looking forward to looking through more books. The ones they'd find in the Forgotten Capital would probably all be written in some ancient Cetra language they wouldn't be able to read. Bugenhagen had been able to read it a little bit, but Tifa wasn't sure if Nanaki would be able to – or have any means to translate.

She also wasn't looking forward to going back to the place where she watched Aeris die. It was one thing to visit her resting place in the lake, but it was quite another to go near the altar where Sephiroth had murdered her.

_Later…_

At noon she was awoken again by a knock on the door. Too tired to even think about who it might be, she shuffled down the stairs to the front door and opened it. She was yawning when she opened the door, so it took her a moment to realize that Reno was standing on the other side.

"Still sleeping?" he asked with genuine surprise. "Geez, you out-lazied me today!"

"Huh?" she asked, rubbing one of her eyes.

The lanky redhead made his way into her bar without any declinations from Tifa and swirled around to face her as she continued to stare groggily at him. He strolled over to her and cupped her face in his hands.

"Wow, you really are tired," he noted before turning around again and making a grand gesture with his arms. "C'mon, Lockhart, there's a whole world out there waiting for you."

Why the hell was he so chipper?

She started to walk past him toward the stairs, in no mood to start the day yet. Reno grabbed her arm as she was halfway up the stairs.

"Hey, seriously, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I didn't sleep well," she responded. "Had a nightmare."

"Uh huh, well, that's tough business, yo," Reno said coolly.

It wasn't just that he had never cared about other people's dreams, but because he didn't want her to tell him while her home was still bugged. Shinra didn't need to know what scared her. Who knows what Rufus might do with that information in the future?

Tifa disregarded him and continued up the stairs to her bedroom. Reno shrugged and followed her. His job was to cozy up to her, so that's what he would do. He hadn't slept much the night before either, and was in that state of alertness after one hadn't slept for a long period of time – where they were somehow more awake than they should be.

"Alright, princess, you just go back to sleep. I'll keep the nightmares away," he said as she got back into bed.

Reno tucked her in and watched her fall almost immediately back to sleep. He considered getting into bed with her but decided to make himself comfortable in the living room instead. He had told himself last night that he would start to pull away from her, but Rufus was still making him follow her for information.

So, he settled on trying to remember that this was his job. She wasn't making it easy though, answering the door in pajama shorts and a crop top. He leaned back on the couch and spread his legs, placing his arm behind him along the back of the sofa. He tapped his fingers for a little while and decided he was too wired to sit still. Time to do a little snooping – for work, of course.

He stood up and inspected her bookcase. There were some girlie romance novels and some true-crime books, as well as some informational books about materia and how to fix motorcycles. That last one had to be Cloud's. The top shelf had a book with a leather spine but no markings. Reno pulled it out to discover it was a photo album. Pay dirt.

He sat back on the couch and opened the album on his lap. The first picture was similar to the one he saw on her dresser with some of the old members of AVALANCHE – except Cloud wasn't there. A half-smirk appeared on Reno's face but quickly dissipated when he turned the page and Cloud was in the photo. He kept flipping. Tifa with Marlene, Tifa with Marlene and Barret, Tifa with Cloud, Tifa with those people Reno murdered, Tifa with Aeris, Marlene sleeping on that red dog thing, Yuffie passed out on Cait Sith, the whole group. Apparently their time chasing Sephiroth was an absolute blast. Toward the end of the book there were some rather beautiful shots of Meteor, Holy, and the Lifestream. Beyond those, pictures of Tifa with Barret and Cloud and then about a dozen photos of Tifa and Cloud, both smiling and looking like they were in love.

Reno closed the book with an audible snap and tossed to the other side of the couch.

"The dirty pictures are in another album," he heard Tifa say from the doorway. She was leaning against the frame casually, still in her pajamas, with her arms crossed.

"Hey! I wasn't… I was just… really?" Reno stammered.

"No, idiot," she responded with an eye roll.

Reno wasn't convinced. You couldn't just bring up the existence of such an album and _not_ expect him to go searching for it.

"Find anything interesting while I slept?" Tifa asked, still standing in the doorway but looking more alert than she had when she answered the door.

"Just this album – you guys seemed to have a good time chasing a homicidal maniac."

"Heh, _that_ part wasn't fun, but it was my first time seeing the world," her voice softened. "Before that I had only been to Nibelheim and the slums of Midgar. I didn't think I'd ever get to see those other places again."

"Yeah, I grew up in the slums so I didn't start seeing the world until I joined the Turks," Reno replied, leaning back on the couch and relaxing.

"What's your favorite place that you've been?" Tifa asked, walking around the other side of the coffee table and plopping down on the couch beside him. She lifted one foot onto the couch and rested her chin on her knee.

"Hmm, never thought about it," Reno said with a finger tapping his chin. "Probably Wutai since the Turks get discounts on drinks."

Tifa chuckled.

"What about you?"

"The Gold Saucer," Tifa responded, her voice nostalgic.

"Really? Thought you would have said Costa del Sol or maybe even Icicle Inn," Reno turned his head to look at her. He could imagine she'd be pretty good on a snowboard. "Why an amusement park?"

"I'd always wanted to go there as a kid, and the second time I went there I watched the fireworks," Tifa explained, leaving out the part that it had been her first date with Cloud. "It was the prettiest thing I'd seen since the stars in Nibelheim."

"Interesting," Reno stroked his chin. "How did you survive under the plate all those years? You really seem to love the sky."

"It was… hard," she didn't want to tell him that it wasn't just the lack of sky that made things difficult. She hadn't told anyone about what happened to her after Zangan left her in Midgar when she was 15. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge knew some of it since they were there for parts, but no one knew the whole story. "I'd better get ready. Don't go snooping."

Reno gave her a rueful smile, but she ignored him and disappeared into the bathroom.

As soon as he heard the water turn on he set about to snooping once again. The photos on her dresser were obviously the ones that meant the most to her. Other than the one Reno had already seen, there was another one to the front left of her riding on Cloud's back, both with beaming smiles from ear-to-ear. Another was a copy of the photo from the album with everyone who fought Sephiroth, and another photo was of her and Aeris hugging each other tightly in that way straight girls did. Reno never understood why girls did that. He didn't have any photos of him and Rude hugging. He shuddered before laughing to himself at the idea of even _asking_ Rude for such a photo.

His next stop was the panty drawer, of course. There were definitely some items in there he hadn't seen her wear yet but now wanted to. In the back of the drawer he found a metal box with a lock on it. He could break the lock easily, but didn't think that would go over too well with Tifa, so he put it back in the drawer gently and closed up.

He searched through her other drawers but found nothing of interest except the fact that she seemed to own nothing but crop tops. She had to have some too-tight sweaters somewhere for winter, right? He was looking through her closet, admiring her display of weapons on the top shelf when she exited the bathroom. He spun around with his hands still stretched and reaching for a pair of gloves, a guilty look on his face showing her he knew he had just been caught.

"Seriously?" she asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"At least I'm not looking through your drawers, right?" he said with a timid grin.

"Probably because that was the first place you checked," she scolded, walking out of the room and into the kitchen for her coffee. Reno followed. He needed that bean juice even if he was already wide awake.

"I am but a man," he said casually as he approached her at the coffee pot. She rolled her eyes at him and poured him a mug.

She poured herself a cup and sat down in her usual spot at the kitchen island, holding her mug with both hands and bringing it to her lips for a sip.

"Why are you here?" she asked suddenly, a little too coldly. Reno bristled.

"Uh, yikes, yeah, guess I'll go then," he said getting up.

Oh boy, he was looking too eager to be around her. He couldn't have that.

"I didn't mean it like _that_," she insisted, reaching out a hand to grab his arm and stop him from leaving. "I just meant… what about your job?"

"Have you gone outside lately? I'm not gonna patrol by myself, that's suicide," he informed her, sitting back down.

"Can't you take Elena if Rude is still working his special assignment?" Tifa still had her hand on his arm.

"I could, but she'd rather do paperwork so she can be in the office with Tseng."

"That's cute," Tifa said, tilting her head.

"Ugh, it's annoying, but it also means I have no supervision so I can patrol as I please."

"And so you've decided to patrol… me?"

"You look like you need a lot of help."

"Thanks," Tifa muttered before taking another sip of coffee.

"Hey, most people only go outside when they absolutely have to, but you go out every day just for the hell of it," he encouraged.

It was true, people left their home for work and to drink, but they stayed indoors as much as they could. Tifa kept _choosing_ to go to the theater. Once the people started dying from monster attacks inside Edge, they stopped going outside unless it was vital.

"Well, I have more training than them," she smiled. "But now it's getting difficult even when you're with me."

"I know, hope someone finds a solution soon."

Tifa let out a noise of agreement similar to what Rude would have grunted. Wow, Reno thought, those AVALANCHE types really were arrogant. He had been in Rufus' office in Junon; he had heard what Rufus learned about the monster situation. What made Tifa so sure AVALANCHE would figure it out? He had half a mind to actually find out where she was going and get the jump on her little friend group.

"I hope so too," she said after a pause. "I want to be able to walk the streets again without being attacked."

"Well, like I told you, Shinra's on the case."

"Yeah," Tifa finished her coffee and stood up to place her mug in the sink. "But now you're working with us, right?"

"Yep, Rufus figures that with our scientists and your fighters, we can figure this out."

"Is that so…" Tifa said, not really asking a question.

"Any errands to run today, babe?" Reno asked.

He wasn't looking forward to going outside – he had fought plenty just getting here from his apartment earlier – but he also didn't want Rude listening in to their conversations.

"Just the bank and the theater if it's not too awful out."

"Judging by the number of creatures I had to kill just to get here, it's pretty awful."

"Well, I need to try. I can't stay cooped up in here all day," Tifa said, gesturing around the room.

"We could always spend the day in bed!" Reno called to her as she returned to the bedroom to get dressed. No answer.

"Hope you're enjoying this, Rufus," Reno said loud enough for the recorders to pick up, but not loud enough for Tifa to hear.

She exited the room a few minutes later wearing that outfit Reno loved but hadn't gotten to enjoy yet, the one with black stockings. Sure, it reminded him of the night she was shot, but it also shoved out the thoughts of pushing her away – at least for now. He couldn't resist that outfit.

He jokingly offered her his arm as they were leaving the bar. She giggled but pushed him away without any malice.

Reno waited patiently for her while she deposited her earnings from the night before into her business account. He had a bank account, sure, but he preferred to keep his gil under the mattress. And, like all good Turks, he had a duffle bag full of cash, alternate I.D. cards, and a change of clothes – just in case. Shit could hit the fan at any moment.

It was strange, he'd never had a problem with the idea of disappearing into the night and starting a new life. Shave his head, change his tattoos, become a different person; it was all a potential consequence of his job. Until now he'd never thought about what he'd be leaving behind if that happened. In the back of his mind he always knew it'd mean never seeing Rude or Elena again, but somehow that never registered. He thought Rude at least would always be on his side and know how to find him.

Now, though, could he disappear and never see Tifa's pretty face again? Or listen as she chastised him for being a jerk? Would he get a place in her photo album?

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked sweetly as she rejoined him in the bank lobby.

"Oh, you know, assassin stuff."

She shook her head. "You're incorrigible."

Reno stuck his tongue out at her in response.

Getting to the theater proved difficult. The bank wasn't too far from Tifa's house, so they only fought a few elfadunks on the way, but by the time they reached the theater they'd encountered an array of hedgehog pies, a few stray levrikons, a large pack of diseased guard dogs, and a hell house – which Tifa, to Reno's surprise, didn't seem weirded out by.

When they came upon the front entrance to the theater, Tifa slowed and reached out her arm to indicate Reno should stop walking. She shushed him – he had been complaining about the freaky sentient house – and listened for a moment.

"I don't hear anything," she told him after straining to hear.

"Isn't that a good sign?" Reno asked, referring to the streets.

"I don't think anyone's here," she said, more to herself than to him.

She started trotting toward the building and entered the front doors without waiting for Reno, who followed her just in case the place had become overrun with beasts. It was completely empty inside. No monsters, but no people either. He heard no drills or saws or any other power tools. No people murmuring or barking orders. No footsteps. Nothing.

Tifa was already hopping up to the stage to go backstage, but he knew she wouldn't find anyone. She came back a minute later shaking her head.

"No one's here," she stated the obvious just to make sure it was true. "They must not be able to get here."

She jumped off the stage and approached him with her head held low. She loved building the theater more than any other place she had worked on in Edge, except for her own home, of course. She was never able to see plays or concerts growing up in the slums, but had always wanted to, especially Loveless. She'd read the play as a child and always wanted to see a production.

Her eyes were sullen when she looked up at him. He didn't know what to say. He didn't really care about the theater or helping to build it. Frankly, it was his least favorite thing he had done with Tifa. He joined the Turks to avoid manual labor.

"Once we take care of the monsters, they'll come back," Reno assured her.

"I hope it's soon," she said as she made her way to the door.

She took one last look around and headed outside. Reno jogged to catch up and timidly put an arm around her shoulder for comfort. She leaned her head on his shoulder until a group of sahagins jumped out of the sewers and started attacking. Tifa channeled her distress toward the creatures, grabbing one's spear and straight up stabbing him with it.

"Oh shit," Reno said before running at another with his mag rod. Since it was covered in sewer water, it took the electrocution from his EMR pretty hard, twitching about until it lay down dead at Reno's feet.

They were usually immune to physical attacks, but they appeared to be showing the beginning signs of the disease the guard hounds had been suffering from. Tifa was able to kick a couple of them in the head to take them out, while Reno's pistol shattered the shell of another.

They fought through them and were nearly back to the bar when something suddenly hit Tifa in the back of the head. It wasn't a large item, but it was big enough to smart. She rubbed her skull and turned around to see a mu had popped out of the ground. It threw another nut at Reno but he was able to bat it away.

"Hey!" he yelled, stomping his foot. "Just because you're cute doesn't mean I won't kick your ass for hitting a lady!"

He stomped over to it and gave it a hard kick, sending the furry little creature high into the air and far down the street. He turned back to Tifa, who was covering her mouth with her hands.

"Oh my God," she said in horror as she looked down the street in the direction the creature had flown.

"Too much?" he asked, putting his hands in his pocket and walking back over to her.

"A little," she said, though she didn't seem mad. "C'mon inside, I'll pour you a drink."

Reno's eyes widened and his mouth opened.

"Really? This early?"

Tifa nodded and led him inside Seventh Heaven. "Just pace yourself, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," he lied.

_Later…_

Reno was on his third expensive scotch by the time Rude and Elena arrived. That 3,000 gil bottle was just about empty already, and surely would be once Rude started drinking.

Rude tapped Reno on the shoulder when they entered and indicated they were getting a table. Tseng must be joining them that night. Reno gave Tifa a mischievous smirk and left the counter to sit with his friends. Tifa brought Rude a glass of the scotch and took Elena's drink order.

"Vodka-soda," she said, kind of annoyed Tifa didn't seem to know it already.

Tifa knew most of her regular's orders, but she always got a sense from Elena that she could change her order at any time. She felt comfortable at this point that she could at least ask if Elena wanted that particular drink before just bringing it to her.

Before long, Reno had Elena in stitches, recalling or embellishing some story from his past, she assumed. It couldn't have been something that happened that day, she didn't remember anything being _that_ funny. Rude remained stoic as always, but Tifa figured he had some way of letting other people know he was enjoying himself.

Tseng joined them when Reno was on his fourth scotch. Rude was on his second, and the bottle was empty.

"Would either of you like to keep the bottle?" Tifa asked when she informed them it was empty. The two male Turks looked at each other.

"Rude, if you want it, take it," Reno offered. Normally he'd try to claim it, but figured he'd done so much damage to his comrade in the past two weeks the absolute _least_ he could do is let him have an empty bottle of expensive alcohol.

"I will," Rude informed Tifa.

"Sure, don't forget it when you leave," Tifa said before returning to the bar.

"You two get to take bottles home now?" Tseng asked, a little surprised at just how close his subordinates had gotten to their target.

Reno scratched the back of his head. Rude crossed his arms but said nothing.

"Yeah, well, we were the only ones willing to pay for that stuff," he said.

Reno fought the urge to keep turning around to look at Tifa. He tried to look for other women to focus on in the room, but it was mostly men tonight – or really trashy middle-aged women he wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole even _before_ he started chasing Tifa. Even Reno had his limits.

"You guys hear anything good today?" Reno asked his colleagues, snidely.

"This is not the place to discuss," Tseng informed him. Rude stared straight forward, and Elena blushed a little. Reno's eyes narrowed at her. She knew something – but it wasn't work related.

"Okay, okay, well, what else is new with you all? Some of us have been working twenty-four-seven and haven't gotten a chance to catch up."

Rude muttered "working" sarcastically under his breath while Elena scoffed.

"Rufus is less irritated with your work," Tseng said.

Reno drank in the compliment like he had to store it for winter. To celebrate, he called Tifa over rather derisively. She gave him a sour look and approached with her hands on her hips.

"Excuse me?" she admonished. Reno kept his chin up.

"Another round, we're celebrating," he said confidently.

"Sure," Tifa said, hiding a sly smile from Reno as she returned to the bar.

Elena was facing the counter and watched as Tifa poured drinks for the table. When she poured the second scotch, she stopped halfway before filling the glass with water and mixing the beverage. The liquid was obviously lighter than the other glass. Now, Elena was no alcohol fool, she knew a few drops of water would bring out the flavor in scotch, but half a glass probably wouldn't go over too well with Reno.

Tifa brought the tray of drinks to the table cheerfully and asked if they needed anything else in order to dawdle and give Reno a chance to take a sip, which he promptly spit out. Elena and Tifa laughed heartily as Reno inspected his drink to make sure he hadn't just drank it wrong, then looked over at Rude's glass and noticed the difference. He turned and shot Tifa a nasty look. Don't mess with a man's scotch.

He turned to shoot Elena an equally dirty look and she stopped laughing immediately. Tifa might be able to get away with that, but Elena had to work with Reno, and he was a notorious prankster. She was still afraid of the stapler.

Tifa sauntered back to the bar when Reno glared at her, chuckling to herself as she went. She hadn't _ruined_ the scotch, per se, she just knew how Reno liked it: Neat.

Before long the Turks were laughing again – well, Reno and Elena were laughing, Rude and Tseng seemed to be enjoying themselves quietly. The bar was busier tonight since this was Thursday, which kept Tifa away from their table most of the night. Cloud had always told her to hire help for the weekends, but she refused. She rarely got flustered and never left customers linger too long. She liked the fast pace because it made the time go by quickly. That meant something when Cloud lived with her, but now that he was gone, quicker nights meant she would be alone sooner.

Reno at least helped with that somewhat, though Tifa could never be sure when he would decide to stick around with her. Last night he had left abruptly with Rude, as if he hadn't just spent the last two nights with her. She had been a little confused but chalked it up to Reno being Reno.

Tonight, however, Reno didn't even pretend to leave with the other Turks like he had in the past while giving her a look that said he'd be back. As the other three walked out, he patted Rude on the shoulder and sat down at the counter in front of Tifa as she started closing up.

He leaned forward on his elbows and swirled his nearly empty glass in front of his lips.

"You don't mess with a man's scotch," he sneered as she polished the bar. There was a bitterness in her voice that made her think he might actually be pissed. He said nothing further, so she continued to clean up, assuming he was just pouting and taking his time finishing his last drink, which had been poured the way he liked it.

When she had finished putting the chairs up on the tables and counter her gil, he finally made a noise to let her know he was still there. He got up from his stool and stood for a moment without moving. Tifa thought he might actually be drunk, but she had seen him drink more.

Without a word he turned and walked around the bar toward her as he had back in Nibelheim, with a wild look in his eye that was almost menacing. She barely had time to put the gil on the counter before he was pushing her back into the counter and shoving his tongue into her mouth.

"You need to be punished," he whispered when he finally pulled his lips off her.

She looked at him with wide, nervous eyes. He hadn't really touched her in days, since the night before her panic attack. She had missed it, even if she were confused about her feelings for him. She nodded her head meekly, as if she thought she deserved whatever punishment he would dole out.

"Oh?" she asked innocently.

His hands found their way under her skirt and around to her ass. He lifted her up onto the counter and continued to ravish her with enough force to make the glasses on the shelves rattle. She kept her arms wrapped around his shoulders as he pressed against her, one hand on her lower back the other squeezing her breast, his hips between her legs to keep them spread.

"Wanna get out of here?" he breathed; the scent of alcohol heavy on his breath. He was going to make her pay for embarrassing him in front of his friends, but he couldn't do it here while the recording devices were still in place.

"And go where?" she asked timidly. The streets were dangerous, and they were already just steps away from her home.

"My place," he said before bringing his teeth to her neck.

"Really?" she asked, a little more excited than she meant.

She had always wondered what Reno's apartment must look like. She always assumed he must live in a rat hole, spending all his money on alcohol and suits. She imagined dishes piled in the sink and pizza boxes stacked in the living room and empty glasses on every surface.

Reno continued to kiss her viciously without answering or allowing her to actually get up so they could, you know, _go_ to his place.

She could already feel his erection against her panties as he pushed her as far back into the wall as she could go. Even as his hips pushed her back, his hand arched her back toward him, and he moved his other hand under her shirt and bra. She kissed back with equal force, not letting him completely take control. She grabbed his tongue with her teeth and sucked on it hard, nearly making him gag. He pulled back abruptly and spun around to leave the bar area, grabbing Tifa by the hand and swiftly leading her outside without a word.

He walked with sinister intention, and Tifa had to jog to keep up at times. He kept close to the buildings to avoid any monsters roaming the streets or policeman who may be patrolling. Every block or so, he'd push Tifa up against the wall of a building and kiss her passionately, exploring some part of her body with his hands. When he allowed her to walk, he put his arm around her waist to keep her close and she wrapped her fingers around his arm.

Tifa was surprised to find out he lived in one of the nicest apartment buildings in town. The lobby was mostly empty, and Reno said nothing as he led her into the elevator and nearly threw her against the wall before the doors even closed. He placed one hand on her ass and the other on her opposite thigh to lift her into the corner of the elevator, keeping his tongue intertwined with hers.

She followed him out of the elevator down to his apartment, and he again pushed her against the door, groping her as he dug for his keys in his pocket and attempted to unlock his door while kissing her. They both heard the next door open and Tifa attempted to stop the public display of affection.

"Mind your own business, Mrs. Krakowski," Reno seethed without taking his eyes off Tifa.

They soon heard the other door slam shut.

Reno picked Tifa up and pushed her back against his door to open it, kicking it shut behind him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto his shoulders for support as he continued to carry her to his couch. She hit the arm of it and fell backwards over it, with him landing on top of her. She started to laugh and he stood up.

"Stay there," he told her as he disappeared down a hallway.

Of course, she didn't listen, and immediately got up, adjusting her skirt back into place. She looked around his apartment, taking note of the lack of photos and personal effects. She clasped her hands innocently behind her back and strolled into the bedroom. It was nearly as empty as the living room, so Tifa decided to snoop in his closet. Reno exited the bathroom attached to the room and clutched his chest.

"My God, woman, I told you to stay out there!" he said in distress.

Tifa ignored him and pulled something out of his closet. She turned to him and held it up with a grin on her face.

"So, you _do_ own a tie!" she said excitedly.

Reno walked toward her and snatched it from her. It was a navy-blue silk tie that was already knotted.

"Well, it _is_ part of the uniform," he said as he tossed it on the floor. Tifa watched it fall with a dejected look on her face.

"Aww, I'd love to see you in a tie!"

"Not in your life, babe," he said coolly before pushing her back onto his bed.

He crawled toward her with a grin on his face, his eyelids heavy and his aquamarine eyes looking practically feline.

"Now, how am I going to punish you?" he asked as he loomed over her.

"You could let me go with a warning," Tifa said in a pleading tone with a nervous smile.

Reno sat back on his heels and stroked his chin.

"I could, but where's the fun in that?" He snapped his fingers. "I got it! Stay _here_ this time," he said as he stood up and left the room.

Tifa leaned against the headboard, nervous, and kept her knees together tightly. She heard Reno fumbling around out in the living room but couldn't see him. He returned a minute later, and her eyes widened in horror. Reno stood at the foot of the bed, his jacket gone and his sleeves rolled up. If Tifa weren't so afraid, she'd be able to note how attractive he looked with slim, fitted dress pants and his shirt barely buttoned, his muscles heaving beneath. But what he held in his hand, sparking and crackling to his side as his left eye twitched in delight, made her rethink her decision to join him at his apartment. She had known as soon as she followed him out of her bar that it was a bad idea, that it would likely lead to sex, which she wasn't prepared to give up yet. But she knew herself and how to handle him – to an extent.

Now that she saw him standing before her with his fingers grasped tightly around his mag rod, she wondered whether sex was the better option. His hands and tongue had been skilled – more than skilled, actually – but that mag rod did things to her body she hadn't thought possible.

"No…" she said softly, not loud enough for him to hear.

He advanced toward her slowly and she looked at him with pleading eyes. She knew if she kept up with him that he would one day use it on her again, and frankly, she wasn't sure why she was resisting it now that they were alone and she could fully enjoy it. Maybe because she knew he liked the chase. Maybe because she liked pretending to maintain her dignity in front of him.

He put one of his knees up on the bed and held the EMR near his face, keeping his eyes locked on hers.

"Are you sorry?"

"It was just a little water! Water brings out the flavor!" she insisted.

"It was more than that and you know it," he sneered before bringing the mag rod to her abdomen in _that_ spot. Just for a moment.

She let out a moan she didn't intend to make and held her hands over her mouth to stifle it. Reno moved onto the bed fully, moving toward her while still up on his knees. He moved back into a position where he was looming over her and leaned down to kiss her, with his free hand cupping her cheek. He again brought his mag rod to her belly, and held it to her a little longer this time.

"Like that?" he breathed into her mouth as she yelped again and nodded her head.

He clicked the EMR off and gave it a second to cool before tossing it to the other side of the bed. Tifa looked at him through questioning eyes and he grabbed her hips, pulling her down the bed onto her back. Reno lowered his hands to her thighs and then slid them along her skin underneath her skirt to hook her panties. He had to pry her knees apart when he got them down, but soon they were on the floor somewhere.

He picked up the mag rod again and powered it up, watching Tifa squirm beneath him. Her eyes widened as he brought the weapon onto her lower abdomen again and didn't let up. Tifa twitched and writhed as the electricity seemed to send her senses into overdrive. She remembered the intense pleasure from Nibelheim, but now that she was able to enjoy it without fighting, she found it difficult to contain her rapture. She screamed loud enough that Reno was certain Mrs. Krakowski must have heard – good. The old bag needed to remember what joy sounded like.

Tifa's hands and feet started to go numb with an almost painful tingling due to the electricity running through her body. Her muscles tensed up and she started kicking out in an attempt to regain feeling.

"Come for me, babe," Reno seemed to hiss as Tifa's back arched off the ground. "Don't fight it."

Tifa cried out as tears streamed from the outer corners of her eyes. She gripped the pillows on the bed and all at once, she was freed. Her belly felt hot, just shy of burning, and she started clapping her fingers against her palms in a futile attempt to get the feeling back in her hands. She pulsed violently and felt liquid on her thighs. Reno whistled.

"Woo!" he howled. "Never seen a girl come so hard. Damn girl."

Tifa looked down at him and her face turned red. She lifted herself off the bed and moved to one side and snapped her legs together. Reno laughed and stood up to put the mag rod in its proper place atop his dresser.

Tifa looked around for her panties as Reno unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it on the floor. Once she snatched them up she ran into the bathroom, with Reno still chuckling. Tifa locked the door behind her – just in case – and leaned against the sink. She was covered in sweat and was red all over. She was still catching her breath when she noticed the shower behind her from the mirror. She walked over to the door and opened it slightly to peer out.

"Can I take a shower?" she asked innocently, just in case he might be preparing to kick her out.

Reno snickered. "It's okay, Lockhart, you can loosen up. I mean, not like you didn't a minute ago," he threw his head back and laughed as he walked to the closet and grabbed a towel from the shelf. He tossed it to her and she closed the door.

He shook his head as he walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of scotch for himself. He sat back on the couch and took a sip, trying to calm his own hormones. Sure, he wanted to get off while he had Tifa in his apartment, but he'd been itching to use that mag rod on her again since Nibelheim.

He had nearly finished his drink when he heard the shower stop. He smiled to himself. Yeah, he dirtied her up. Strife could _never_ satisfy her like he could.

"Umm, I couldn't find anything to wear so I…" he turned around at the sound of Tifa's voice.

She had her hair wrapped in the towel and was wearing his discarded white dress shirt with black panties underneath. It was buttoned a little higher than he usually wore it, and the sleeves were too long for her. The front and back hems fell close to her knees, but the sides of the hem were higher. Reno couldn't explain why she suddenly looked so much hotter wearing his shirt. Had to keep his cool.

"Babe, would you stop acting like you're imposing? Relax," he said, patting the couch next to him. "Here, finish this."

He handed her the last sip of his scotch when she joined him on the sofa. She obliged, even though she didn't like it. Reno leaned back and draped his arms along the back of the couch as she brought her legs up and scooted close to him.

"I honestly did not expect your place to be this nice," she said.

He shot her a side eye.

"Did you think I lived in a dumpster?"

"No! I just, didn't think you'd have it decorated like this."

"What'd you expect? Dirt and bullet holes?"

Tifa giggled. "No! I just didn't know what to expect, I guess."

"Well, I happen to have great taste in furniture and shit," Reno snapped.

"I'm sure you do," Tifa said slyly.

"So, you gonna sleep in that?" Reno asked with a half-smirk.

"I didn't think you owned anything but suits…"

Reno sighed.

"So you think I live in a dump but only own suits?"

"No! I've just never seen you in anything but a suit."

"Oh, you've seen me not in a suit."

"Not like that!"

Reno hopped up off the couch and extended Tifa a hand.

"C'mon, I'll grab you a not-suit to wear," he said, strolling into his bedroom with Tifa in tow.

He reached into the second drawer of the dresser and pulled out a white t-shirt. He handed it to Tifa and she went back into the bathroom to change.

"You know, I've seen you naked before!" Reno called to her.

"Not all at once!" she responded.

She came out a minute later. Reno was so thin even a shirt that narrow hung off him, but Tifa's breasts really stretched out the top part of it. She looked at him sheepishly, tugging at the hem as it was a bit shorter than his dress shirt.

"Better?" he asked wryly.

"I guess," she said.

Reno left to turn the light out in the living room while Tifa instinctively got into his bed on the side where she usually slept in her own bed. The Turk didn't object. He removed his pants and joined her in bed.

"You can't have it," he said.

"What?"

"The mag rod. It's mine."

Tifa just laughed.


	29. The Forgotten Capital

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Sex scenes – if you don't like to read them – don't read further!**

Chapter 29:

"You've had this place cleaned… recently, right?" Tifa asked.

Reno glared and pursed his lips.

"Yes, your highness," he said with more than a hint of indignation. "I have a regular service. But to your _point_, I don't even bring women back here."

Tifa gave him a skeptical look. "Of course not, you're perfectly chaste," she mocked.

"It's the truth," he said. "Well, not the 'chaste' part, but I don't bring women here. Can't risk them falling in love and then knowing where I live."

Tifa's expression fell to a dismissive frown. What a cocky sonofa—

Reno took a drag from his cigarette and leaned over to put it out in the ash tray next to the bed. Tifa couldn't quite tell, but she thought she could see the Shinra logo on it. What she _could_ see, however, was Reno's lean back muscles as he stretched toward the nightstand.

She had woken up before him and considered pulling a Reno and leaving quietly before he realized. But she had worn so many separate items the night before – the tank top, skirt, suspenders, thigh-high stockings, boots – she couldn't possibly have gotten dressed without him noticing. Not only his Turk training, but his apparent sonar for naked or nearly naked women in his vicinity would have given her away immediately.

So, she laid in bed and scanned the room for any warning flags. Reno seemed to live like a nomad, with hardly any personal items in need of taking if he were to flee in 30 seconds. His closet door was open and all she could see were suit jackets and dress shirts – and one black trench coat. There were no photos for her to leer at and, surprisingly, nothing to hint that he was a womanizer or that he had recently been with some _other_ woman.

She thought she might be able to be silent enough to leave the bedroom and snoop around elsewhere, but as soon as she shifted, he stirred, and his arm reached around her to hug her to his body.

"No snooping," he said as if he were still dreaming. Damn Turk instincts.

She turned toward him and pouted. "But you snooped around my apartment!"

Reno sat up and reached for the pack of cigarettes on the nightstand. He lit one up and looked at her as she was still lying down.

"That was completely different," he stated matter-of-factly. "My job requires me to be secretive, yours does not."

"I see," Tifa said sarcastically.

Reno took another drag of his cigarette and used his free hand to pull the covers off Tifa, revealing that his t-shirt had ridden up past her hips as she slept.

"Besides, I needed to know what lingerie you've been hiding from me," he said, smacking her ass.

"Reno!" she scolded as if he had done that in a room full of people.

She sat up and leaned her back against his wooden headboard. She looked around his room, still unable to locate anything that would provide her useful information. So, she decided to simply ask him about whether the place had been cleaned.

After Reno put out his cigarette he turned to kiss her on the temple before hopping out of bed and heading into the bathroom.

Tifa had never done anything like this, so she didn't know the proper protocol. Did she wait for him to get out of the shower to say goodbye? Or was he expecting her to leave now? She'd heard about the "walk of shame," but never had to do one herself, since she'd only been with Cloud and they had lived together.

She thought it might be acceptable to make a pot of coffee to have it ready once he was out of the shower, so she walked out of the bedroom to find the kitchen and take stock of his pantry. His kitchen was clean, though she shouldn't have been surprised since he told her he had a cleaning service. She started opening up cupboards to find where he kept his coffee grounds. She found his extensive collection of liquor glasses and some dinnerware before finally finding a cupboard that had various packages of coffee in varying degrees of use. She figured the one closest to being empty must be his favorite and brought it off the shelf. Even though she knew she'd find nothing, she looked through the lower cabinets just in case he happened to have any vanilla beans or nutmeg. Of course, he didn't.

She started the coffee and moved on to his fridge to discover exactly what she expected: Beer and leftovers from who knows how long ago. She found a glass and poured herself some water from the tap and plopped in some ice from the freezer – he had plenty of ice. She leaned back against the counter and sipped her water while waiting for the coffee, or for Reno, whichever was done first.

It was Reno.

He walked into the kitchen wearing just his suit pants. His hair was still wet. He seemed alert despite the lack of coffee and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her back into the counter as he had done at her bar the night before.

"Love to find a strange woman in my kitchen making me coffee and wearing nothing but a thin white t-shirt," he said as he kissed her on the lips. Tifa blushed.

"Well, it won't be as good as my coffee since I couldn't find—"  
"_Nothing_ is as good as your coffee," he said flirtatiously, his arms wrapping around her small frame so tight he could almost touch his own body again.

As he spoke the coffee maker indicated it was ready, but Reno wasn't ready to let Tifa go. He could feel her breasts squished against his chest in his constricting hold, and he couldn't get enough. With one last squeeze he finally released her, much to her rib cage's delight. He opened up a cabinet and pulled down two coffee mugs to pour them each a cup. They each took a sip before Tifa spoke again.

"I can't believe I have to do a walk of shame," she said sullenly.

Reno cackled and spit out most of his coffee before getting control of himself. She had said it so innocently, reminding him just how much he was enjoying corrupting her. Of _course,_ Tifa Lockhart had never taken a walk of shame! He found the idea of it so amusing he lost control again and doubled over laughing, holding his stomach.

Tifa put her coffee mug down and glared at him with her hands on her hips. "What's so funny?"

"You…the idea… the…" Reno was still trying to stop laughing as tears started forming. After a few more moments, he had finally composed himself and stood up straight, wiping the tears from his eyes. "S, sorry," he said with another chuckle. "It's just the idea of _you_ of all people taking a walk of shame."  
"Why's that so funny?"

"Because you're so…" he looked directly into her eyes. "… innocent."

Tifa scoffed.

"I am _not_ innocent," she protested. Reno's roguish grin returned.

"Well, not since you've been hangin' around me, that's for sure."

She scowled.

"I wasn't innocent before you," she retorted, pouting.

"Oh, right, _Strife_," Reno said with animosity.

That guy was the only reason Tifa wasn't the perfectly innocent china doll Reno first thought she was when he met her three years ago. Well, "met" was the wrong term, more like came into contact with, and by that he meant her foot to his face.

"Tch," Tifa folded her arms across her ample chest and briskly turned her face away from Reno.

"I'm sure that blonde-haired virgin dirtied you up," Reno laughed again.

"It wasn't just him," Tifa said defiantly.

She didn't want to give him any details about what had happened to her after she arrived in the slums of Midgar, but she didn't like his teasing, even if she had always considered herself rather innocent and demure.

Reno's head snapped when she said that.

"It wasn't?" he asked, dumbfounded. He hadn't gotten that read from her.

"Remember I lived in the slums for five years before I found Cloud again." She felt like a little girl standing up to a bully who had taken her doll. She didn't have much to fight with, but dammit, she was going to fight.

Reno scanned Tifa's eyes as if he could read them like a computer code, trying to draw out the information behind what she was saying without her having to say it. Whatever happened to her in the slums was not her decision, he could tell. He softened and put a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Hey, let's not count that, okay?" he said, trying to lift her spirits.

He didn't want to think about what must have happened to her back then, but he could take a few guesses judging from her looks. An innocent 15-year-old country girl who looked like Tifa showing up in the slums of the big city? She'd be lucky if she managed to survive without getting… He shook his head. No.

"Look, babe, I'll be going with you, so it won't even be a walk of shame, yo," he added. "Your lifelong streak of no shame-walking remains intact."

Tifa smiled.

"I should get dressed," she said before moving out of the kitchen.

"No, you shouldn't!" Reno called after her. He took another sip of his coffee.

Tifa joined him a few minutes later dressed and certainly _not_ looking like a woman who was about to be walking shamefully home alone. Reno grinned to see her in that outfit again and walked back into his room to finish getting dressed himself. When they were both ready, he held out his elbow for her to take, which she accepted with an ironic laugh.

The city of Edge was just about overrun with monsters at this point. Reno and Tifa had to fight non-stop the entire trip back. Grashtrikes, ceasars, sahagins, vargid police, zenenes – the streets were filled with the creatures. There were so many, the monsters were fighting each other for territory.

Reno knew he couldn't stay at Tifa's all day – or forever, for that matter – and almost considered parting from her so he wouldn't have to trek all the way from her place to the Shinra building. He had to prepare the helicopter for the trip to… wherever… the next day and was _not_ looking forward to walking the streets alone. Still, he had assured her she would not be walking home alone in shame, so he continued on with her.

They arrived at Seventh Heaven nearly out of breath. Tifa unlocked the door to let them in and they both ran inside to get away from the creatures.

"I think we're living in a horror film, yo," Reno said as he slumped to the floor to catch his breath. Tifa was leaning against the closed door.

"We leave tomorrow. Hopefully we can figure this thing out then," Tifa replied, pushing off the door and placing a hand on Reno's shoulder.

"If it stays like this, I'll have to become a hermit," Reno admitted, getting back to his feet. He looked around the room as if studying it for the first time, stroking his chin. "I could live here the rest of my life… good booze," he looked at Tifa, "plenty of fun…"

Tifa gave him a heavy-lidded stare with a frown.

"Ugh, I hate being stuck inside all day," she groaned. "I'm going to go change, I don't think there's anything more for you to snoop."

"Sounds like a challenge," Reno responded. "But alas, I can't take you up on it. I actually _do_ have to go back out there."

Tifa stopped where she was, on the third step of the stairs leading up to her apartment.

"Seriously? You're going back out there?" she seemed concerned.

"Gotta, babe," he confessed, heading for the door. "Gotta make sure the chopper's ready to transport your royal highness and comrades tomorrow."

Tifa made a face at him and sighed.

"Be careful, okay?"

He nodded and held up his hand as if to promise.

Outside, he realized his best chance to get to Shinra HQ was to get off the streets – literally. He dashed across the street, avoiding a herd of levrikons, and quickly scaled up the building he and Rude – well, mostly Rude – had been watching Tifa from earlier in the week. From his vantage point on the roof he could see the monsters hadn't quite mastered climbing yet. Now all Reno had to do was jump from roof to roof all the way to Shinra. Easy peasy.

He stood on the parapet of the roof he was currently on and looked to the next building. Not too far, he could probably make it easily. With a grunt he heaved himself into the air and landed on the building next door. He smiled as if someone were around to see his simple feat. Hearing no applause, he kept going, leaping from roof to roof until he could no longer travel straight. Shinra wasn't too far, but he couldn't just take the rooftop path anymore.

He leaned over the ledge to survey what lay below. He took a minute to calculate his route and then leapt from the roof and took off running once he hit the ground. He dodged nimbly around a hell house, between some more levrikons, hopped up onto the back of an elfadunk and down the other side, and kicked his way through some hedgehog pies before finally making it inside the front doors to the new Shinra building. Catching his breath, he strolled over to the elevator, trying to keep his head high and not look winded. How were other people getting around?

He got off the elevator at the top floor and headed for the roof, looking forward to spending the day with his most favorite – well, second favorite, now – thing in the world: His helicopter.

_Meanwhile_…

Tifa had to find ways to keep herself occupied while staying indoors. She packed a small bag to take with her to the Forgotten Capital, a backpack to keep with her while searching the city, and a backup bag with extra potions and gear to share. She assumed the others had gathered their own supplies, but she always liked to be prepared just in case.

When that was done, she ran through her normal exercises, even though she was a little sore from the non-stop fight from Reno's apartment building back to her bar. It did kill a little time before the bar opened, though.

With that done she decided to look through the photo album Reno had perused the day before. She hadn't looked through it in awhile, and wondered what seemed to bother the Turk. She figured it out when she got to the last third of the book, which was filled with photos of just her and Cloud. She ran her fingers over some of the pictures, remembering the circumstances surrounding them being taken and found a smile forming on her lips. She found it odd that Reno would be bothered by photos of her and Cloud. He didn't seem like the jealous type and she _certainly_ didn't think he had feelings for her.

She closed the book and laid back on the couch to try and nap. The bar wouldn't open for hours, and she ran out of things to do by herself.

When it was _finally_ time to open the bar, Tifa made her way downstairs quickly to turn on the "open" sign, then stood expectantly behind the bar for her customers. She waited. And she waited. And then she waited some more.

The bar had been opened for an hour and yet no one had entered – on a Friday night. She left the area behind the counter to peer out from the front window and saw the streets still filled with monsters. She banged her forehead against the window in frustration. She was bored out of her mind and now the monsters were keeping her from human interaction. At least she wouldn't lose any money closing the bar down for awhile.

She kept the light on but grabbed a book from upstairs to read, just in case. She grew sick of the book around 11:00. No one had come in – not even the Turks. She figured that if even _they_ weren't traveling out to her bar, no one would be. She closed up and headed upstairs to sleep. Getting up early to start the trip to the Forgotten Capital would at least get her out of the house, and hopefully find the solution to the monster problem.

She flopped back on her bed. Her phone buzzed. Reno.

"See you tomorrow, princess," the message said.

Tifa put her phone away and tried to go to sleep, but her mind kept racing to thoughts of what she might find at the Forgotten Capital the next day. Cloud had been going there, would she find him? Would he be… alive? Injured? Or…

She squeezed her eyes shut tight to fight back the tears that were forming. Cloud was alive. He wouldn't leave her. He loved her. He was alive...

_The next morning…_

Reno was surprisingly close to being on time to pick Tifa up outside of Edge. Just twenty minutes late. Tifa supposed that must be some kind of record for him in both his professional and personal life. The chopper had scared off the monsters that had been gathering around where Tifa waited, which was good, since the situation had become somewhat tense.

Reno and Rude both stepped out of the helicopter to greet her. Rude took her bags and set them in the back of the aircraft. Tifa realized how strange the scene would have seemed to her friends. If this had been happening two years ago, she would surely be getting dragged into the helicopter kicking and screaming to face an impending death. It was just her and two Turks. Quite the unsavory company.

"Sorry we couldn't stop by last night," Rude apologized when he approached her. Tifa nodded to let him know she understood.

"Hopefully we'll find an answer today," she told him.

"Where to first?" Reno asked as he headed back to the cockpit.

"Cosmo Canyon," Tifa replied. No need to tell him who would be joining them yet – just in case.

Reno squinted at her in half-hearted disappointment. She'd have to give him more information eventually.

"Cosmo Canyon it is," he said, climbing into the pilot's seat while Tifa climbed into the back area.

Tifa watched the world fly by beneath her as the helicopter took off toward the other continent. Just as she had done when Reno flew her, Barret, and Marlene to Costa del Sol, she tried to look below in case she could see Cloud. Yet again, she couldn't see him, but she could note the large herds of monsters that seemed to be all over the planet. Things hadn't been clear when they went to Costa del Sol, but the hordes hadn't been _this_ bad. The planet seemed to be getting overrun.

Cosmo Canyon had more defense systems in place than the last time she had traveled here. It had only been a week, but spiked barriers had been constructed to try and keep the monsters from getting to the city. Even still, Tifa and the Turks had to fight a few just to get up the stairs to greet Nanaki and Vincent.

"Nanaki, Vincent, you remember Reno and Rude," Tifa said nervously when all five were face to face. Vincent and Rude both crossed their arms. Rude at least nodded and grunted in response to Tifa's re-introduction, while Vincent appeared to stare right _through_ the two Turks with a blank expression on his face.

"Thank you for agreeing to travel with us," Nanaki said politely even though he was skeptical of their reasons.

"Anything to save the planet," Reno said a little too eagerly. The others all looked at him. "What? Am I not allowed to care about the planet?"

"We're just not used to it," Tifa replied with a half-smile.

Reno considered making a smart-ass remark to her but figured it would give them away, so he just glared.

Reno and Rude always had mixed feelings about Vincent. He was an ex-Turk, but he was also a member of AVALANCHE. They also only knew him as a bit of a legend in the Turk ranks. Reno wasn't even born yet when Vincent was out Turking it up, but the raven-haired loner served as a cautionary tale for new recruits to stay the hell out of Professor Hojo's way.

Nanaki's nose had picked up a familiar scent as soon as Tifa and the Turks arrived. It wasn't Tifa's natural scent or the familiarity of the Turks. It was something he had first noticed while traveling with AVALANCHE the first time. Certain humans seemed to give off a certain scent around other humans. Nanaki had suspected it had something to do with love – or lust. Either way, when he smelled it, he knew what it meant and he did what he could to get away from it. He hated knowing that much about humans when he knew they couldn't detect it amongst themselves on any physical level.

Tifa and Aeris always had that smell when they were around Cloud, and the blonde had it when he was around either of them. Cid had it when he was near Shera, but no one else really had it. As soon as the three guests arrived at the top of the stairs in Cosmo Canyon, however, Nanaki smelled it again. All three of them had that scent, which perked the red beast's curiosity. He had come to realize that Tifa and Aeris felt an attraction toward Cloud and he for them. The same went for Cid and Shera, even if the pilot refused to acknowledge his feelings.

So, what, then, did it mean that Tifa and two Turks all had the scent? Based on his previous experience with a love triangle he assumed the two Turks felt something for Tifa, but Nanaki had a hard time believing Tifa had feelings for either of their prior enemies, let alone both. The musk definitely warranted further investigation.

"We ready?" Reno asked after an awkward pause. He was pretty anxious to learn where AVALANCHE believed the answer to the monster situation would be.

"Seems like it," Nanaki responded as they began to make their way back to the helicopter.

Vincent and Tifa hoisted themselves inside and buckled in before noticing Nanaki's apprehension. While the helicopter had doors, it didn't exactly have any seats designed for non-humans. He considered lying on the floor or remaining stationary like in the Highwind, but knew that wasn't an option. Climbing into one of the seats proved difficult, but he finally managed to get up, turn around, and sit down in the seat next to Tifa while she hooked him into a harness.

"You all good back there?" Reno called from the pilot's seat, having watched the red beast struggle.

"All good," Tifa replied with a bit of a laugh.

"Where we goin' now, yo?"

"Wutai," Tifa said, to Reno's dismay. He knew that whether it was the final destination or just a stopover, the annoying ninja would be joining their party.

"Wutai it is," he grumbled.

The ninja meant Tifa wouldn't get a room to herself that Reno could sneak into undetected. It also meant possibly getting caught – Yuffie was a self-proclaimed ninja, after all. On top of all that, Reno found her quite grating. He wasn't exactly the picture of maturity, but he couldn't remember ever being _that_ immature.

Wutai seemed to be clearer than other cities. It hadn't suffered much during Meteor, so it didn't need to rebuild its infrastructure or its police force. The guards were working hard, but people generally seemed to be able to walk the streets without fear. It was a pleasant change from Edge and Cosmo Canyon, for sure.

The group walked through the main section of town nervously. People knew AVALANCHE, and they knew the Turks, but they had never really seen the Turks _and_ AVALANCHE. Granted, the two groups had sort of worked together in Wutai years ago when the ninja pest and Elena had been kidnapped by Don Corneo, but that was up on Da Chao, so it's not like the townspeople really saw them.

As they approached Turtle's Paradise, Reno started to slowly, absentmindedly, almost instinctively, drift toward the entrance. He didn't even realize he was heading inside until Tifa grabbed him by the shoulder to keep him with the group. He didn't seem phased or angered by her touch – a point noticed by Nanaki.

"I could just drink while you all pick up the kid?" Reno pleaded. Rude scoffed.

"You're not flying the helicopter while drunk," Tifa scolded.

"It would just be one drink?" Reno said, thinking that might make it okay.

Tifa didn't let go of his shoulder and until they had crossed the bridge heading away from the bar. In an effort to maintain the appearance that he was not that close to Tifa, Reno dusted off the shoulder of his jacket when she let him go and then placed his hands in his pockets and fell to the back of the group. That'd fool 'em.

Nanaki stayed up front with Tifa, trying to get a read on her relationship with the Turks. He was still learning about humans and the world, so he was interested in the dynamics at play between former adversaries. Tifa, however, seemed eager to get to Godo's home and wasn't paying much attention to anyone else, though she did give Nananki a side-eye when she realized he had been staring at her as they walked.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Nothing. I'm just still trying to figure out two-legged creatures," he said, almost to himself.

Yuffie was waiting for them on the porch outside her father's house with a suitcase, a duffle bag, and her materia satchel. Reno noticed the large suitcase first.

"Geez, how long do you think we'll be staying?" he asked her.

Yuffie looked confused and turned to her belongings.

"That's my spare materia bag," she informed him in a tone suggesting he was an idiot for even asking.

Reno brushed off the barb.

"Fine, but don't blame me if the chopper is over its weight limit," he said dismissively.

"Just take it," Yuffie instructed as if Reno were her bellhop.

"Ex_cuse_ me?" he asked pointedly. "I'm not your servant."

"You expect _me_ to carry that?"

"Yes!"

Yuffie scoffed before grabbing the handle to the suitcase and dragging it behind her, struggling even with two hands. Reno looked mighty pleased with himself and turned to head back out of town.

"So, I guess we have another destination after this?" he asked in Tifa's direction. "The chopper's at capacity, yo."

"Yes," she responded. "I'll tell you where we're going once we're all back in the helicopter."

Reno couldn't help but feel a little stung that she didn't trust him enough to tell him where they were going now. Did she really think he and Rude would just take off and leave AVALANCHE? He thought he and Tifa might have built up some kind of trust these past two months. He supposed she could just be acting cautious in front of her friends.

"Why did we have to meet you outside Godo's house?" Tifa asked Yuffie as they made their way back through town.

"I keep an extra stash of materia there for special occasions," the little ninja responded, still struggling to keep up with everyone else while dragging her large suitcase. Rude had politely taken her duffle bag.

Once everyone was securely strapped into the helicopter, Reno turned from the pilot's seat to call back to AVALANCHE.

"So, _now_ will you tell me where we're going?"

"Do you know where the Forgotten Capital is?" Tifa called back to him.

"Do _I_ know where the Forgotten Capital is?" Reno responded, a little indignant. "Who do you think you're talking to, Lockhart?"

Reno turned to Rude and lowered his voice so AVALANCHE couldn't hear back over the roar of the motor. "Where is the Forgotten Capital?"

"East. And a little north," Rude responded simply.

"Helpful," Reno huffed.

"It's north of Bone Village" Yuffie yelled from the back.

Drat! The little brat had heard.

"Got it!" Reno sneered.

He flipped a few switches and started to lift the aircraft off the ground. Soon, they could no longer see Wutai beneath them. Once they had crossed the ocean to the northern continent they should have been able to see snow, but instead they saw what appeared to be oddly colored mud.

"Look!" Yuffie exclaimed, pointing a finger at the landscape below.

"What is it?" Nanaki asked.

"Hell if I know," Reno responded.

"Monsters," Vincent said matter-of-factly.

The others squinted their eyes to see better.

"Oh my God, he's right," Tifa said, horrified.

Hordes of monsters were below them, nearly covering the ground. They all seemed to be grouped together and moving north together. They could see monsters from all over the world packed together. Tifa could pick out harpies, griffins, and even cactuars all mixed together as if they were being summoned.

"Jenova…" she said just barely audible.

"Do you think so?" Yuffie asked.

"If they're heading north, they're likely going to the Northern Crater," Nanaki suggested. "Jenova may be calling its cells home again."

"But didn't we defeat Jenova?" Tifa asked.

"Maybe not completely…" Nanaki said. "I'm hoping the Cetra left behind some information about how to truly kill the creature."

They could hear Reno groan in the front of the helicopter.

"This is another book trip?" he asked. He was _so_ damn sick of information and documents and waiting around for _other_ people to figure things out. "There's a bar in the Forgotten Capital, right?"

No reply.

They were nearing the abandoned city. The monsters were heading through the city, taking the right shell path that led to the mountains and Icicle Inn.

"Uh, anyone know if these buildings are solid?" Reno asked.

No reply. Reno groaned again. Some help AVALANCHE was.

He decided not to chance landing on the one building with a flat roof and instead set the helicopter down between the left and center paths leading around the city. The monsters seemed to be avoiding this area.

"That's odd," Nanaki noted. "They seem to be on a set path."

"Well, as long as they leave us alone," Reno piped in, grabbing his bag out of the helicopter.

He considered grabbing Tifa's and pretending he was just picking up random luggage but thought better of it. Better to let them think he was still a selfish prick. Rude picked up a few extra bags to help Yuffie and Tifa, and the team headed toward the abandoned city.

Tifa led the way, anxious to see Aeris' final resting place in the hopes that she would find Cloud. If he were anywhere in the world seeking forgiveness, he would be there.

Neither Reno nor Rude had actually even been to the Forgotten Capital, and were amazed by the architecture. It looked like what mermaids would live in – if this were the ocean and mermaids were real. The plants looked like coral and the buildings looked like they were maid of seashells. Some even looked like giant seashells. They followed Tifa as she led them through a dark, narrow tunnel toward what looked like a clearing in the creepiest forest ever.

The trees were bright white and seemed to produce their own light. Reno had to shield his eyes from the glow. Aside from the white trees that looked dead, there was a huge building that somehow seemed both natural and manmade at the same time. In front of the building was a large lake illuminated by light shining down through an opening in the forest canopy.

Tifa approached the lake and fell to her knees. Yuffie rushed to her friend's side as Reno held back the urge to join them. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew when Tifa was unhappy, and he hated to see it.

"Aeris…" Tifa said first. "He's not here." Her voice was soft and wavering as she tried to hold back tears. Cloud was… supposed to be here. She looked around the shore of the small lake. It didn't look like anyone had been here recently. She would have expected _some_ sign that Cloud had been here. A bedroll, some potion bottles, trash – anything.

She started thinking that the whole "forgiveness" thing might have been a lie. How else could she explain his absence? This is where he would have come to speak with Aeris, right?

Yuffie put a hand on Tifa's shoulder and sat down on the ground next to her.

"Maybe he's down below?" Yuffie suggested. "Or maybe he's coming home to you."

She didn't know what to say. She, too, expected Cloud to be living near this lake if he were anywhere – and if he had been telling the truth about seeking forgiveness. She didn't want to believe that Cloud had simply abandoned her best friend like she meant nothing, but it had been nearly two months since he left, and it was getting harder for Yuffie to believe he was coming back.

Tifa closed her eyes and placed her hand on top of Yuffie's. She felt a pit in her stomach that she couldn't explain. Perhaps it was the sinking feeling that Cloud had left her. No, it was something else. Something like fear. Fear that Cloud was in trouble somewhere, but she didn't know where. She let the light from above wash over her, silently praying to Aeris.

"Help," Tifa heard a voice say.

She fell backwards onto her butt and looked around desperately. Did no one else hear that? She shook her head. She must be hearing things, being so close to Aeris and the abandoned Cetra city. Her mind must be playing tricks on her. She was probably just _wanting_ to hear Aeris or the voice of the planet since she was here and Cloud wasn't.

"You okay?" Yuffie asked as Tifa started to get to her feet.

"Yes, I'm fine… I think I was just over—I think I just missed her," Tifa said, holding a hand to her head.

Reno stood in the back of the group with his arms folded and his face contorted into something of a grimace. So, Cloud wasn't here. That opened up an opportunity for him, but he didn't like to see Tifa so sad, especially since he couldn't do anything about it in front of the others. He had actually half wanted the blonde bastard to be here, just to stop her suffering. He didn't know why she was still so hung up on the guy, but he wanted to see her happy.

Nanaki moved next to Tifa and pushed her hand up onto the top of his head. One thing he had learned about humans; they seemed to calm down after petting him. Tifa scratched him behind his ears before moving toward the shell house.

"Let's keep moving," she said as she walked along the water's edge.

Nanaki's nose suddenly started twitching. There was that smell again. He slowed to discreetly sniff the air as everyone else walked past him. It was Reno. Reno had that strange human scent Nanaki suspected had something to do with love emanating from him. Nanaki had only smelled it this strong once before – on Tifa after they found Cloud in Mideel.

"Don't sniff me," Reno said harshly when he noticed Nanaki's nose coming toward him.

"Apologies, I think it's the lake," Nanaki offered.

Reno was getting a little creeped out by AVALANCHE's pet. In all his travels and dealings with Shinra, he had never met anything like him. And so far on this trip the thing kept sniffing the air like he smelled something to eat nearby. It was weirding Reno out. Was that thing planning to eat him?

His concerns were deserted when they entered the shell house and began walking down the glass stairs. Now Reno was freaked out about falling to his death and that his last words would have been "don't sniff me." Hardly a dignified death for a Turk.

"Wow," he said, elongating the word. "Wouldja look at this place?"

Not much better for final words, but they would have to do. Rude was also soaking in the scenery while trying not to fall off the narrow glass pathway that had no architectural structure holding it in place. Physics should have dictated the stairs break under their weight, yet somehow they didn't.

The city itself was strange looking, but less so than the above sea level ocean scenery back outside. The doorways and windows were shaped oddly, and there were multiple spires and staircases, but at least it looked manmade. In the center of it all, below them, was a deep, clear pool that reflected the colors off the side of the buildings. In the center of the pool was an open platform with a short staircase leading down to some pillars and the end of the walkway.

Tifa stopped walking once they were amongst the buildings. She refused to even look at the platform where Sephiroth had killed Aeris.

"Where's this library?" she asked Nanaki and Vincent.

"I'm… not sure," Nanaki admitted. "It must be in one of these structures."

"Split up?" Yuffie suggested.

"Rude and I will go that way," Reno said, pointing at a random building.

"Oh no," Yuffie said with her hands on her hips. "You two aren't going off by yourselves to steal whatever you find or set some trap."

"Whatever," Reno said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "You decide how we split up."

He wasn't in the mood to argue. He didn't want to go through any more books or documents, especially any that might be written in some ancient language. He wanted to be at a bar, or at least messing around with Tifa somewhere _away_ from this place that was making her sad.

Yuffie had never been asked to split up the group before. Cloud always got to make that decision, except for once when Tifa decided and another time when Cid was in command. It felt like too much power to entrust to her. She might have felt almost the way she did when she was wielding materia. Almost.

"Hmmm," she said, one arm folded across her chest while tapping one foot. "Rude should go with Vincent so they can bore each other to death. And I'll go with… Nanaki."

Yuffie grinned, and Reno realized she must know about him and Tifa. Of course Tifa told her, that annoying little ninja was her best friend since that Ancient died. He wouldn't admit it, but he was now actually glad the pest had joined them.

"And that just leaves you and… Tifa…" Yuffie smiled.

"Fine!" Reno seethed. Couldn't look happy about it.

"Okay, can we search now?" Nanaki asked.

"Yes, you may," Yuffie responded, enjoying her short moment as the leader.

Vincent and Rude walked into a building on the main floor, while Tifa walked down a curved staircase and immediately back toward a building in the opposite direction of the platform below, Reno dragging his feet behind her.

The buildings were small, so it didn't take long to determine they were not in a library. Tifa walked along the smooth, rounded interior wall, running her hand along the stone just to feel its sensation. There wasn't much in the building, just a stone bench in the back – apparently the only thing that hadn't degraded with time.

"What are we looking for?" Reno asked, trying to be helpful when all he really wanted to do was push her up against the wall and grope her.

"I really don't know," Tifa said.

She reached the bench and sat down, resting her elbow on her leg and her head on her hand. Reno noticed and joined her.

"I guess I thought…" she said sullenly. "I don't know what I thought. We never spent much time down here, so I didn't pay attention. Maybe there's nothing here."

Reno looked around to make sure no one was looking in through the window or doorway and put his arm around Tifa's shoulders.

"Yeah, I don't think there are any buildings down here that would have any information."

Tifa leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.

"I hate it here."

"I know, babe," Reno kissed the top of her head.

Wait, he wasn't that type of guy. His eyes darted back and forth as he suddenly wished he hadn't done that. Maybe Tifa didn't notice. She pulled out of his embrace and looked into his aquamarine eyes.

"Did you just kiss the top of my head?" she asked.

"Uh, no…" Reno replied sheepishly.

He had to do something to end the sappiness. It was one thing to comfort her, as he had done before, but it had been just the two of them then. He couldn't act all sweet when one of the others might walk in at any moment and get the wrong idea. When he couldn't think of anything more dignified, he reached out to grab her breast and push her down onto the ground behind the bench, rolling on top of her as he did so. She yelled. Good, let people think he was just making a random move on her because that's the kind of guy he was.

But when they hit the ground, they heard a click. Tifa hadn't fallen completely off the bench, her legs were still on it, pinned by Reno's lower body. When they heard the sound they both looked at the wall behind them. Tifa heard movement but couldn't see anything while upside down, but suddenly felt herself sliding down, with Reno still on top of her.

She screamed, grabbing onto Reno tightly and uttering curse words at him. She had always hated going down the slides backwards as a child. Reno had a better vantage point as they fell. It wasn't a long drop, maybe 20 feet, but when he saw the opening coming he wrapped his arms around Tifa tightly and spun around so he would land on the ground first.

He landed on his back with Tifa on top of him, clutched to his chest. She squeaked when they hit the ground, and immediately got up to look around. The secret passage had led to a rather grand-looking room. It must have once been finely furnished, but all that was left was whatever had been made out of stone.

"You okay?" they heard Yuffie's voice from the top of the secret entrance.

"Yeah! I think we found the library," Tifa called back.

"Sweet! Be down in a sec," Yuffie said, and a few seconds later she was flying off of the slide and directly into Reno, who had just managed to stand up.

He landed hard on the ground again with an "oof." Yuffie got up without apologizing and joined Tifa to look around the room. Within moments the rest of the group was sliding down the passage. Reno scrambled to get out of the way, lest he be taken down by two other people and a wolf-lion thing with sharp claws and a fiery tail that may or may not have wanted to eat him.

"How did you find this?" Yuffie asked in amazement.

"I, um," Tifa stammered.

"I stepped on a button, I think," Reno cut in, scratching the back of his head.

Yuffie's eyes narrowed at them. "Did you now?" she asked skeptically.

No matter. The group walked through the room until they saw doorways leading off in various directions. A wide staircase in the back of the room led to an upper balcony, but a room leading off to the right proved more fruitful.

"The library!" Nanaki uttered as soon as he saw a book from the doorway.

He ran off toward the room leaving everyone else to follow. He didn't know what he had expected to find, but discovering a library this large, full of so much ancient knowledge, was beyond anything he could have hoped for. The others – except for Rude and Vincent – looked around the room in stunned amazement. The library alone may have been the size of the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim. It was almost imposing in size and stock. There must have been 100,000 books in the room, at least, with shelves stretching three stories up and rolling ladders on each wall, as well as several balconies with spiral staircases.

"Looks like we're going to be here for a while," Reno said, stretching his arms and yawning.

"At least it's safe down here," Rude offered as consolation.

"Yeah but all our _stuff_ is back outside," Yuffie reminded him

Reno jabbed a finger toward Yuffie. "You need your materia down here? You got something to make you read faster?"

Yuffie leaned back to avoid having a finger stabbing her in the face. "No, but I'd rather not sleep down here without my stuff."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Fine, I don't wanna look through dusty old books anyway, _I'll_ work on getting the luggage down here while you all read."

"Oh no, no, no," Yuffie said, now wagging a finger in Reno's direction. "You're not going up there alone. You'll leave us here."

"Aw c'mon, I wouldn't leave Rude," he said, waving a hand toward the bald Turk, who nodded as a thank you.

"I also don't want you near my materia, so _I'm_ coming with you," Yuffie insisted.

Reno blinked a few times. He'd rather travel with Vincent or the red dog thing that may or may not want to eat him than the annoying ninja.

"Forget it, I'll take the vampire."

Vincent glared from over his collar.

"No! I don't trust anyone else with my materia, come _on_!" Yuffie said, grabbing Reno by the wrist and dragging him back to the secret passage. Reno tried to catch Tifa's eyes as he was pulled away, but she was still amazed by all the books.

When they were back to the passage, Yuffie finally let the red-haired Turk loose. He rubbed his wrist. She may have been small, but she had nails.

"Geez, what's your problem?" Reno hissed. Yuffie motioned toward the passage.

"Ladies first," she told him.

He glared at her and proceeded to climb up the passage he had fallen down earlier. What was Yuffie's problem? Bossing him around like they were in Wutai and she had her guards backing her up. He reached for the entrance to the tunnel and hoisted himself back into the room with the bench where he had pawed Tifa.

He reached down to offer Yuffie a hand, which she skeptically accepted, and pulled her up into the room easily. It was easy to look strong when lifting children.

"Th, thanks," Yuffie offered, blushing a little.

"Huh? I just didn't want to wait for your slow ass," he growled, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. He then thrust his hands into his pockets and left the building to head for the glass staircase.

"Yeah, right," Yuffie said, following him. "I think, deep down, you're a nice guy."

"I'm not," Reno said without emotion and with his eyes focused ahead.

"I think Tifa thinks you are," Yuffie cooed, clasping her hands behind her back.

Reno spun around to point at her accusingly.

"What do you know about that?" he snarled, the cigarette dangling from his lower lip.

Yuffie laughed.

"What _don't_ I know. I am her best friend, you know," Yuffie was just toying with him now, and he knew it. Even worse, it was probably going to work.

"Whatever," Reno ran his hand through his hair and returned it to his pocket. He turned around and continued up the stairs. That little pest wasn't going to get to him.

"Want to know what she thinks of you?"

"No."

"Want to know what she thinks about _Cloud_?"

"I think I already know."

"Hmm, well, I think you're wrong."

Reno twisted around and had to stick out his arms for balance. They were about halfway up the glass staircase, perilously high over the city.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, _now_ you want to know what I have to say," Yuffie teased with a grin.

"Forget it," Reno said, turning back toward the top of the staircase and continuing the climb.

"I know she's not so committed to Cloud coming back," Yuffie continued to try and meet his gaze while holding her hands behind her back.

Reno paused for a moment. Could she be telling the truth? No, and it didn't matter anyway. He walked up to the shell house where they had left all the luggage. He picked up a few duffle bags and slung them over his shoulders.

"She said that?"

"I can tell. There's someone else…" Yuffie looked to be enjoying herself, but Reno wasn't about to let her get away with this.

"Whatever," he said, grabbing a suitcase that was _not_ Yuffie's and heading back down the glass stairs, a bit slower this time.

Yuffie was again struggling with her materia bag, and with each "clank" of the wheels hitting a glass step, Reno winced, fearing the stairs would break.

"You know, I've actually never seen her get this way about anyone but Cloud…" Yuffie continued.

Reno tried to brush her off and concentrate on getting down the glass stairs without falling to his death. Was she carrying Tifa or Rude's bags? He could just push her off. Tifa would believe it was an accident, right?

Just another half a glass staircase until he was safely on solid ground. Yuffie seemed to finally get the hint and was silent for the rest of the trip down the stairs. Reno thanked the Gods once he was finally off the glass.

They were just about back to the secret passage when Reno dropped the bags and sat on the bench suddenly.

"What way?" he asked. That little sneak had gotten to him.

Throughout all of this, Reno never expected the possibility that Tifa might develop feelings for _him_. When he worried about hurting her, it had been fear that she would merely be reminded of Cloud abandoning her. He never thought she might get hurt because she actually _liked_ him.

Well, it wasn't like that changed anything. He didn't care about her feelings, remember? All he wanted from her was sex. All _he_ liked about her was her tits and ass and what was between her legs – and the smell of her hair and her smile and the way she made him feel like there was more to life than being a Turk…

"Aww, see? I _knew_ you had a heart in there somewhere," Yuffie teased, slinking up to Reno and poking him in the chest with her extended index finger. "Even if it is two sizes too small."

"You're wrong," Reno said, swatting at Yuffie as if she were a mosquito.

Yuffie sat on the bench next to the redhead and crossed her legs, a devilish grin on her face.

"Oh yeah, heartless guys go out of their way to get girls their favorite flowers _all_ the time."

Reno snapped his head at her, glowering.

"She told you about that?"

Yuffie nodded eagerly. She then nudged him with her elbow. "She tells me _everything_."

Reno turned his head from the little ninja so she wouldn't see how red his face turned. He reached out an arm to push her off the bench, but she rolled backwards to avoid him. Unfortunately for her, she rolled right back into the secret passage. She screamed as she fell and landed on her back.

Reno threw his head back and laughed maniacally.

"Serves you right!" he called down to her before dropping the luggage down the chute piece by piece.

"Is that everything?" Tifa asked when Reno and Yuffie returned to the library.

The remaining members of the group were looking through books and hadn't moved too far from the entrance in the time it took the Turk and the ninja to return to the surface and back again.

"There's some more, but if you make me go back up there with _her_," he pointed a finger at Yuffie, "we will be one annoying brat short."

Yuffie grinned as Tifa shot her look that said, "you better not have told him anything." Yuffie's grin quickly melted into an innocent smile.

"Most of the books are in Cetra and I can't quite translate," Nanaki informed the two who had just joined them. "But many are surprisingly in English."

"Oh, goody," Yuffie groaned. It was the first thing she said Reno could agree with.

_Later_…

Reno sat up suddenly from his bedroll in one of the rooms of the underground (well, more underground) building. He had chosen a room across the hall from the library, wanting to get as far away from those books as possible. His vision had started to blur when he was forced to actually _assist_ AVALANCHE – and Rude – in going through them.

The room he and Rude were sharing must have been some kind of seating area. The furniture was somehow preserved, with a plush couch (which Rude was sleeping on) and several matching armchairs and a regal-looking coffee table. A fireplace had been carved into one of the walls.

Reno heard something outside the room and instantly shot up to investigate. He was wearing only his suit pants, which he struggled to keep up without a belt. He grabbed his pistol and held it in the ready position as he stood with his back against the front wall of the room to peer out the door.

He could see a pair of delicate, bare feet disappear into the secret passage and he followed, looking around to see if anyone else was awake. What he didn't notice was that Rude had heard the sound as well but remained in the room when he realize Reno was going to investigate.

Reno climbed up the chute with some difficulty, as his pants kept sagging over his feet, making it tough to get traction. He pulled himself out of the hole in the ground in time to see Tifa ascending the glass staircase. She looked almost like she was sleepwalking and was wearing a pair of tiny white pajama shorts and a black mid-riff baring tank top without a bra. Her hair was messy from sleep and she looked up ahead to the exit back to the surface.

Reno relaxed his hold on his gun and followed her, making sure to stay out of her sight – if she was even capable of noticing him at this point.

She was standing at the edge of the lake outside the shell house when he emerged from the glass staircase. She was cloaked in that bright white light that streamed in from above the trees, giving her an ethereal glow that illuminated her skin and caused the shine of her hair to almost blind him.

Her arms were wrapped around her stomach as though she were hugging herself and she was looking toward the water in the middle of the small lake. Reno watched her from the entrance to the shell building, leaning against the wall and folding his arms across his chest. He was soaking in her beauty in what he assumed to be night, though the clearing hardly looked different than when they had come through earlier.

Tifa wasn't moving, so Reno didn't want to approach her. Through no fault of his own, however, the sound of a falling branch somewhere behind him caused her to whip around and find him staring at her.

"Reno?" she asked unnecessarily.

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged sheepishly, placing his other hand in his pocket to keep his pants from falling.

"Yeah, sorry, yo," he said, staring at his feet. "Heard a noise and followed to make sure nothing attacked you."

"It's safe up here," Tifa responded softly.

Reno looked up to see her beautiful mahogany eyes fixed on him, her eyebrows slightly raised in confusion. He pushed off the entrance and walked over to her with his shoulders slumped.

"Yeah but if you go much further it's not," he offered as explanation. "What're you doing up here?"

Tifa sighed and looked at her feet.

"You'll think I'm crazy," she said sadly.

"We're all crazy."

"I just… Ever since we got here, I've felt like I heard Aeris' voice, but I can't understand what she's trying to tell me," Tifa said, raising her head to look back over the lake. Reno just stared at her blankly. "It's like, I hear her voice as if she's standing right next to us, but nothing she says makes sense."

"That's… uh… hmm," Reno scratched the back of his head. What could he say to that? He had no idea what she meant but he wasn't about to make her feel crazy.

"I just keep getting this feeling like I need to leave," Tifa said, a little resolve in her voice now.

"Like something bad's gonna happen?" Reno asked. "I get that on missions sometimes, and something usually goes bad."

"No, it's not like that," Tifa shook her head gently. "It just feels like I need to leave for some reason, but I don't know why. I don't think we're in danger or anything."

"I can take you back, if you want," Reno offered. Tifa turned to him.

"No, I don't want to leave. I won't just leave everyone because of some weird feeling I can't even explain."

Reno let out a chuckle.

"Yanno, Lockhart, we're actually a lot alike."

Tifa choked back a laugh, which would have been a _lot_ more hysterical a couple months ago before she had gotten to know Reno. She shouldn't have laughed at all; based on what she had learned about Reno in the past two months, he wasn't so wrong.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"No matter what I felt on a mission, I'd never leave. I knew not everyone would feel it, so I made sure to stay back for those who needed me."

He reached out to wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest.

"Yeah?" she asked into his pectoral muscles.

Reno rested his chin on the top of Tifa's head and swayed with her.

"Yeah" he practically whispered.

He held her under the light for a few moments before she lifted her head to look into his aquamarine eyes.

"I think she's telling me to stop looking and go home," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Reno looked down at her to see the light reflected in her quivering eyes.

"Aeris was always a little blunt," Tifa said with a fond smile. "The words I've been able to understand were 'help,' 'home,' and 'go.' I think she wants me to go home and help the people of Edge and to stop waiting for Cloud."

"It's not like you've been doing nothing but wait for him," Reno informed her with a half-smirk.

"It feels that way sometimes," Tifa returned to rest her head on Reno's chest, a slight smile forming on her lips.

Reno pulled away and held her at arm's length, keeping his stance wide so his pants would stay up. Really should have grabbed a belt.

"I've never really gotten that from you, Lockhart," he said, hunching over so that his eyes were level with hers. "I've seen you go about your life – you run a business, you help your friends, you put up with me…"

She laughed at that. "Yeah, you are a full-time job sometimes."

"Don't I know it."

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment before starting to inch closer together. Tifa closed her eyes as she felt Reno's lips meet her own in a surprisingly gentle kiss. There was no viciousness or competition for once, just a smooth, tender kiss that reminded Tifa of the way Cloud used to kiss her, though she was trying not to think about Cloud at the moment.

Reno hugged her tight again and stood with her a few contemplative minutes before asking, "Wanna go for a walk?"

She glanced down at their bare feet and considered objecting but looked around at the beautiful yet eerie forest and nodded her head. Reno squeezed her to him one last time and let his slender fingers thread themselves into Tifa's. He quietly led her into the forest of white, leafless trees in no particular direction. There was something quite beautiful about the contrast between the seemingly dead trees and Tifa's boundless fortitude.

Reno felt butterflies in this stomach as they walked deeper into the woods, still holding hands without saying a word. He wanted to say something to her to lighten the mood, which seemed heavy due to the location, but he suddenly found himself at a loss for words. He didn't have much experience with being speechless, but he found himself worried that he would say something to make Tifa think he was stupid or lame. Had a woman _ever_ thought that about him? He couldn't recall, but somehow believed it was a possible option for _this_ woman.

"Yanno, I've never been here before," he said after a while.

"Really? I thought the Turks had been all over the world," Tifa responded solemnly.

"Pretty much, but we're a people organization, yo, and there are no people here."

Tifa gave a half-smirk at his claim. "The Turks are a 'people organization?'" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, the killing of people, mostly, but still, there's no one here to assassinate."

Tifa chuckled.

"Yanno, if someone had told me two months ago that in two months I'd be standing in a creepy dead forest with a gorgeous woman who used to be my enemy, I'd have called them crazy," he said, stopping and turning to face her again.

"I would have too," she added with a warm smile. "But like you said, we're all crazy."

"Some of us more than others, my dear," he said, that trademark grin reappearing. "You, you're definitely crazier than most, though."

She pulled back from his grip and put her hands on her hips. "What? _Me_? How so?"

He laughed and reached out to embrace her again, pulling her close so that their lips were mere millimeters apart. He could feel her nose tickling the tip of his own and smelled her sweet breath. He started to worry she could hear his heart beating faster.

"Because you put up with me… and, I _think_, you actually like it."

Before she could answer – and she didn't really know how, anyway – he pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes and settled into the kiss as he leaned her back against one of the oddly luminescent trees. He wrapped his arms around her and pushed his hips into hers, partially to keep his pants from falling down while his arms were preoccupied.

His tongue made its way into her mouth when she brought her hands up to rest one on the back of his head and the other behind his neck. He squeezed her tightly and lifted her up just a bit. When he set her back down firmly on the ground, he slowly moved his hands to the hem of her shirt.

They couldn't see the lake from where they were. Reno hadn't really expected to try anything with her while in the city where Tifa's best friend had been murdered, but he couldn't help himself after seeing her illuminated near the water's edge. At least they were far enough away that he couldn't say anything had happened, like, on the girl's grave or anything.

She just continued to kiss him as he lifted her shirt above her breasts, which fell easily from the confines of the fabric. He left the shirt hiked up to her collarbone, allowing his hands to explore the warm flesh beneath. His calloused hands roamed freely, enjoying her breasts and taut nipples. He returned one hand to the small of her back and teased her nipple with the opposite thumb.

Tifa moved one hand down to trace the muscles of his chest down to his abs and to his bony hips. She brought both hands down and around to the small of his back to let her fingers sneak underneath the fabric of his pants just slightly. He pressed his chest against hers and brought his hands up to cup the sides of her face, deepening the kiss before reaching down again to pull her shirt over her head.

She didn't move to cover herself this time but did make sure there was no distance between their bodies. Reno dropped her shirt next to their feet and she felt the oddly smooth bark of the tree on her back. She moved her hands to his hips, leaving her pinky fingers to lightly breeze across the skin just under his waistband. He shivered as her soft touch, a little tickled. He moved his hips away from hers just enough to let his pants fall to his ankles and stepped out of them.

"Tell me what you want, yo."

He pressed back against her and she could feel his erection against her abdomen. She felt heat settling in her most sensitive area as her heart started beating faster. His hands continued to roam her body, seeming to want to feel every inch of her.

She wasn't hearing Aeris anymore as Reno explored her and didn't even realize the voice had stopped. She had been fighting her feelings for so long, believing Cloud would come back to her – that he couldn't have just left her the way he did. But he wasn't anywhere he should have been. It didn't even look like he had been here.

What she could understand from Aeris made her believe it was time to let Cloud go. He wasn't here for a reason, and Reno was. In fact, Reno had been around a lot the past two months, and he had been showing her something different. What Tifa thought about in that moment was not the past sexual encounters with the red-haired Turk – it was the flowers, the conversations, the laughter.

Reno had been there for her the past two months as Cloud had been previously. He had protected her, kept her company, even checked on her when she was sick – in his own Reno way.

She knew he may have started being nice to her just to get in her pants, but she now knew there was something more to his actions. She couldn't believe even Reno would go to so much trouble to sleep with a woman. She couldn't be that special.

"I want... you," she breathed.

Reno brushed her skin with a gentle flurry of kisses down her chin and neck, lingering on her breasts, before he knelt on the ground and gripped her pajama shorts on either side. The butterflies and heat in her loins kicked into overdrive as she allowed him to slip her shorts and panties down to her ankles. This was really happening, and she was really letting it happen.

He took a step back to study her, pushing air out from his lungs in an approving breath as he looked her up and down. She stood leaning against the tree, with one hand grasping her alternate arm to hug across her body in a timid stance to show how nervous she was. Her head sunk a little as she watched him grin wolfishly at her.

He approached her again, pressing his hips into hers and placing a hand on each of her upper arms. He kissed her again in a manner closer to his usual passion. He seemed to be fighting with himself to be respectful toward her when he really wanted to throw her down and ravage her.

He started to pull her down to the ground and directed her to sit on the seat of his pants, since it was the largest piece of fabric worn between the two of them. He laid her back down and watched her nervously squirm below him as he stood up to remove his boxer briefs.

This was it; his prize. All his hard work, all his years of wanting – it was all about to pay off. Two years ago he had met Tifa Lockhart while she was trying to kill him. For months he was forced to try and kill her as well. Two months ago she still hated him. But now? Now he was about to be the second man to enter her this way, and the achievement did not pass him by.

He slowly lowered himself to his knees as she took in the sight of him. He was all muscle and bone, so thin yet so strong. She was anxious as he approached her again, noting that his erection was bigger than she was used to – and she was just so small.

He didn't immediately enter her; instead, he sucked on his own fingers to warm them up before slipping one inside her. His hands were still a bit cold due to where they were in the world, but that just served to heighten the feeling inside her. She reached her hands out on the ground around her, looking for something to grip as her back arched off the ground just from his fingers once he had pushed a second into her. She tried to keep her eyes open so she could see his muscles and mentally prepare for when his cock was inside her, but she kept finding them closed as she writhed in pleasure.

Satisfied with how wet she was, Reno removed his fingers from her and leaned forward so that his arms were on either side of her shoulders.

"You want this," he said. It was meant to be a question, but it didn't quite come out that way.

Tifa felt as though her heart would jump out of her chest when she quietly nodded her head. He grinned at her in a way she had never seen before and she braced herself for what was about to happen, so nervous that her inexperience would disappoint him.

Reno brought one hand to his cock to steady it as he approached Tifa. He gently rubbed the tip against her entrance, teasing her before he gave her what she wanted – what _he_ had wanted for years.

She was tight. Reno knew it had been months since she had last been with someone, but he wasn't expecting her to be like this.

"God, you're tight," he said as she whimpered beneath him.

It was exhilarating, almost like fucking a virgin. He eased his way into her as she winced. He knew it was hurting her, so he gave her body time to adjust to accept his considerable size before he continued on.

Thanks to his experience, he knew when to stop pushing in. He wasn't quite to his hilt but knew that going any deeper into her in his position could ruin the moment. He fell forward onto his hands and began to thrust into her - delicately at first, until he could tell it was feeling good for her.

Her insides burned with pleasure from the friction as his cock slid in and out of her. He picked up his pace as she relaxed and wrapped her legs around his waist. He leaned down toward her and pushed his tongue into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down onto her before moaning loudly and leaning her head back, giving him access to her throat.

He sucked on her neck while continuing to grind his hips into hers. She had never wanted to be one of those women who was accused of "just lying there," so she bucked her hips against his, quickly finding his rhythm. She tried to keep her mewls dignified, but the sensation was just too good, and she found herself making some rather unladylike sounds for him. It only served to excite him further. He sat up on his knees and placed his hands beneath her buttocks to lift her off the ground. She rested her ankles on his shoulders as he thrust deeper into her, causing her to moan loudly. Reno knew that sound. It was the sound a woman made when a man was hitting the _exact_ right spot. It was the closest he could get to causing the same sensation as his mag rod. Somehow, though, women always preferred this more natural method of pleasure.

"Reno… Reno!" Tifa cried out in that voice that straddled delight and pain.

She was embarrassingly close to losing control, and she was afraid he wouldn't enjoy her if she came too early. She couldn't help it though, and soon she was howling his name at the feeling of her insides gripping his cock and the hot liquid now running down to the ground beneath them.

"Goddammit, girl," he said almost cruelly. Tifa couldn't tell whether he was mad or turned on.

He pulled out of her suddenly and in a move that Tifa supposed was how he usually conducted himself in such moments, he forced an arm beneath her and in one fluid motion lifted her up and twisted her around so that she had to get on her hands and knees.

Reno had to take a moment to admire her from this angle. If she didn't have such a pretty face and rack, this would have been his favorite view of her. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her closer to him as he again rubbed the tip of his erection against her entrance. He was about to thrust back into her when he noticed her legs shaking violently as he teased her. He had never seen a woman react that way and he grinned.

_Tifa_ had never reacted that way to any kind of touch, and she felt humiliated. One leg was shaking so violently she felt she must look like a dog. Reno howled behind her in approval, however, easing her fears. He then entered her again with no difficulty. Within a second he was pushed in to his hilt and began thrusting deeply into her.

She tried to stay in a modified push-up position for him, but the more his hips pounded against her, the more she slid down to the ground. After a few minutes of struggling to stay up, Reno placed a hand on her back and pushed her chest to the ground, lifting her hips up higher and closer to him as he did so. This position gave him access to _that spot_ again and couldn't believe she was about to come a second time.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, Reeeeeno!" she cried as she did so.

He slapped her on the ass as he again felt her tightening around him almost to the point of being painful.

"Ohhhh fuck," he said without stopping.

He again pulled out of her, this time grabbing her by the arm and twisting her around to face him. He then laid on the ground and brought her to hover over him, helping her ease down onto him. She was surprisingly adept in this position, but he tried not to think why that may be. Instead, he guided her hips up and down on top of him until she took over and planted herself onto him, with his cock completely inside her, and gyrated her hips without her body leaving his.

"Oh, shit," he said as she took control, his pupils large as he watched her breasts bounce while she rode him.

It was now getting to the point where he was struggling to hold back. He didn't know what might happen to them after this – he knew he could screw her a million more times if it was like this. But he knew anything could happen – she could overthink everything, for one – so he was going to get everything he could out of her, just in case.

Tifa eventually came a _third_ time on top of him, mewling his name with a hint of disgust as the liquid ran down her thighs and his hip bones. Reno had been with a lot of women – a lot – and some of them came pretty viciously. But he had _never_ taken as much pleasure from bringing a woman to the height of rapture as he did now.

Tifa Lockhart was something else. To look at her, one might think she was easy. To know her, one would know she was timid and inexperienced. Yet here and now, actually _being_ with her, Reno realized she must have been sent to him by the Gods. Her body, her wit, her skills, her movements, _everything_ she was doing at that moment; it was all too much for him. He hadn't thought a woman like her could exist, which is why he had spent so many years of his life with whores.

He could tell Tifa was nearly spent. Her legs were shaking, she was doing that single-handed clapping thing she had done the previous week when she didn't think he noticed, and her breathing was labored. He knew she was losing feeling in her extremities, and while he was proud of himself, he decided to give her a break. She had more energy than any woman he had ever been with, and God bless her, she was a trooper, trying her hardest to please him when he could have come the instant he was inside her.

He lifted her off of him and spun her around to push her back to her hands and knees. She yelped at the quick movement and he was already inside her. He pounded his hips into her with more speed and force than before, and she struggled to keep from sliding along the ground. She found nothing to grab onto as he pumped her from his tip to the hilt, pushing her each time his hilt made contact with her ass.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuuuuuuuuuuuck…" Reno practically yelled as he finally released inside of her. He thrust into her a few more times to empty his load before sliding out to catch his breath.

Tifa was flustered, and now terrified that he had come inside her. He had been with a lot of women, and she hadn't insisted on a condom, so taken with the moment. Now she worried what she might have caught from him - or whether she would end up pregnant.

He was still hovering over her, breathing heavily in the heat of the moment, before they both collapsed onto their backs on the ground.

When Reno finally found his voice again, all he could say was, "Fuckin' A, Lockhart."

Tifa turned to her side and closed the gap between their bodies. She reached her hand across his chest to intertwine her fingers with his. "I think you can call me Tifa now," she said with a crooked smile.


	30. Shadows Of The Past

**Chapter 30: Shadows Of The Past**

**A/N: Rated M for language.**

**Oy, a lot of you did NOT like that last chapter. I forgot how poorly I handle even mildly negative reviews. Guess it's a good thing the beginning of the end is coming soon.**

Chapter 30:

Tifa was putting her panties back on and asking herself why she kept letting her first sexual encounters with men take place outside. She at least wouldn't let this one be a repeat of her and Cloud under the Highwind when everyone watched. Though she was exhausted after burning so many calories with Reno, she refused to fall asleep with him in the forest. The others might get suspicious if they woke up and discovered she and the loudmouth Turk were gone.

Reno watched her dress with a rueful smile on his face, hating to see her wearing clothes. He couldn't read her expression, but worried she was immediately regretting what had happened between them.

"You worried the others'll find us?" he asked, in no mood to get dressed or part from Tifa.

"Yeah," she said as she pulled on her tank top. She was still wearing just her panties below. Reno made a mental note of this particular look. "I don't want to get caught again."

Shit, she hadn't meant to say "again," and froze for a moment, hoping Reno would connect it to back when Rude saw them in Junon.

"They're asleep, babe."

"If we stay out here, they could wake up before us and wonder where they are."

"Let 'em wonder," Reno said, getting to his feet just in case she hadn't had a clear view of his naked body whilst lying down. He closed the distance between them and regarded her darkly. "You're not having regrets, are ya?"

Tifa finished pulling up her pajama shorts and reached out to put a hand on his cheek. "Of course not, I just don't want to get caught."

She looked around briefly to make sure she hadn't brought anything with her. Reno reached for his boxer briefs to slip them on and again approached her, still unsure of her mood. He rubbed her arms and looked down into her eyes.

"An' don't worry about anything, yo, I'm fixed and clean." He figured Tifa would be concerned about that. He usually wore condoms when picking up whores – to protect himself, really – but with Tifa, well, the moment just swept him away.

Tifa looked up at him a little confused. "Fixed?"

Reno's cheeks flushed and he let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Don't want kids right now, seemed like a good idea."

"So, you want kids someday then?" Tifa asked with mock eagerness that was missed by Reno.

Reno again blushed and stammered. "I, uh, maybe, I dunno…" he scratched the back of his head. He wasn't exactly dad material, but no one can predict the future, right?

"Relax, cowboy, I was just teasing," Tifa said, smacking him on the chest with the back of her hand.

"Cowboy?" he asked as he stepped into his pants. "Oh, that reminds me, you still got that cowgirl outfit you wore in Nibelheim?"

Tifa froze. How the hell did Reno know about an outfit she wore seven years ago? Reno realized his mistake and offered a courtesy laugh.

"How did you…?" she asked suspiciously.

"I, uh, saw it in your file?" He was stuck now, might as well come clean.

"You… read my file?" She figured Shinra would have a file on her since she was a former leader of a terrorist organization, but she hadn't expected Reno to read it.

"Had to, yo," he said, casually waving his hand through the air. "Had to know who I was up against, yanno?"

The truth was he had only glanced at her file before dropping the plate on Sector 7. Hot, fights with her fists, member of AVALANCHE – what else did he need to know?

He hadn't actually _read_ the whole damn thing a dozen times until after he kissed her for the first time. He read the reports from the Turks who had been in Nibelheim at the time of the incident and saw the picture of Tifa, Zack, and Sephiroth taken before the latter went crazy.

"Uh huh," Tifa wasn't convinced, but didn't feel like fighting him on it.

"I'm gonna head back," she told him. "You should wait a few minutes before following."

Reno grabbed her to steal one more kiss before pulling back and saluting. "Yes ma'am."

She giggled and started walking back toward Aeris' lake.

Reno watched her walk alone through the woods and reached his hands behind his head, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He had been with women who were good in bed – great in bed – or who were good at particular things, or who were just good enough for him to get off. But he couldn't remember a time when he had actually felt during sex like he had with Tifa. He had always enjoyed sex, but that last encounter was on a whole other level. It suddenly felt like every other sexual encounter he ever had was just mediocre, like he had finally had good sex.

He knew that wasn't right. He'd had good sex before, _great_ sex before. He was good at it, and a lot of the women he bedded were also good. Tifa, however, put them all to shame. It was like her body was made for his.

Hearing her scream his name was the prize he had been waiting for. If he could somehow make that scream into a trophy, he would proudly display it on his coffee table at home. He could almost hear it now…

Wait, Tifa _actually_ just screamed. Reno took off running toward the sound of her voice, taking several thin branches to the face and chest as he darted through the forest. Some of his scratches were already drawing blood when he found her crumpled on the shore of the small lake clutching her head.

"Tifa!" he called as he rushed to her, falling to his knees beside her and picking her up into his arms. "What's wrong?"

Tifa's eyes were scrunched closed and she was covering her ears. Her head sounded like the inside of a crowded stadium, with loud screams and murmurs but she couldn't understand anything being said. It felt like there were people in her head, banging on the walls to get out. She wondered if this is what Aeris heard all the time and how she could stand it.

"Make it stop!" she yelled. "I don't understand!"

"What? _What_ don't you understand?" Reno asked her, cradling her in his slender arms and rocking her gently.

"Aeris, please, stop! It hurts!"

Reno looked around but saw no sign of the dead Ancient. Having no idea what else to do, he picked Tifa up off the ground and carried her into the shell house and down the glass stairs. As they descended, her screams subsided into whimpers. Reno set her down on the stone bench in the small room with the secret passage as she regained her composure.

"What was _that_?" Reno asked with deep concern, kneeling in front of her.

Tifa placed a hand on her head, even though it didn't hurt anymore, and winced.

"I…I don't know," she said. "When I got back to the lake, it was like Aeris was screaming at me, but I still don't know what she's saying."

"It's better now though?" Reno asked, cupping her cheek in his hand. Not exactly the reaction he wanted from a woman so soon after sex with him.

"Sort of, now it's just that feeling that I need to leave."

"I can fly you home."

"No, no. I want to stay and help."

"That's my girl," Reno said with a tap on her cheek, which Tifa did not really appreciate.

He stood up and offered her his hand. She accepted.

"If it gets bad, yo, let me know," he said, pulling her in for one last hug before they needed to get back to the others.

Tifa nodded and pulled away from him to slide down the secret chute. She figured it was safer not to wait for the Turk and headed back to the room she was sharing with Yuffie. The young ninja was still fast asleep when Tifa entered the room and returned to the bed on which she had been sleeping. The two women had found a preserved bedroom up the grand staircase. The beds were undeniably comfortable, so comfortable, in fact, Tifa considered how she could get one home with her.

Sleep eluded her for a few hours as she struggled to process her encounter with Reno and what happened at Aeris' lake. The feeling that Aeris was trying to tell her something had been stronger near that lake, but it suddenly sounded like a chainsaw in her head after she slept with Reno. She hated that she couldn't have slept next to him after having sex. It cheapened the whole moment, she thought.

It was some of the hottest sex of her life, for sure, but she couldn't help but feel guilty. She was supposed to be helping her friends find information about Jenova, not screwing around with a former enemy. But Reno had really brightened her life in the past two months, and while sometimes she thought things had moved pretty fast between them, it didn't _feel_ fast while it was happening.

Her mind turned, as it so often did, to Cloud. He may have literally left nearly two months ago, but it had felt like he had left her emotionally long before that. The headaches had been getting progressively worse and he was spending more time away from Tifa so she wouldn't see his pain. He stopped touching her, he stopped joking with her – he pretty much stopped being with her without an explanation. She couldn't forget that.

But if the headaches were really the Jenova cells acting up again…

She finally fell into a fitful sleep, waking a few hours later when Yuffie called her name.

"Hey sleepy head! Get up! I'm not looking through that library by myself!" the young ninja shouted in Tifa's ear.

Tifa stretched from her position lying down on the bed before sitting up with a yawn. Her hair was a mess atop her head – both from the rough sleep and Reno. Before Tifa could get up toward her belongings to get ready for the day, Yuffie gasped.

"Tifa? Is that… bark… in your hair?"

Tifa quickly reached up into her hair to retrieve the offending item. God_dammit_. She threw the piece across the room quickly as if it had been some kind of insect.

"Oh, man, how long have I been walking around with that in my hair?" she asked to mask her embarrassment.

Yuffie seemed to be placated. "Must have fallen on you when we got here yesterday."

Tifa didn't really believe Yuffie could have gone all day not noticing tree bark in her hair but didn't want to put the younger woman on the right track.

"Y, yeah, must have," Tifa said sheepishly. _Close one_.

The women dressed and returned to the library to find Nanaki and Vincent already there. Just as in Cosmo Canyon, it seemed Vincent didn't sleep. Nanaki had just curled up in a corner and slept as needed.

Tifa looked around to see the Turks had not joined them yet. Nanaki turned immediately when the two women entered, his nose twitching almost violently. He recognized _that_ smell. He had first smelled it on Cloud and Tifa after they came back aboard the Highwind that one time.

"Good morning, Yuffie, Tifa," Nanaki said, trying to hide the fact that he wanted to gag. "I think it might be best if we split up around the library, I'm going that way."

Without waiting for a response he galloped off to another corner of the room.

"What was _that_ about?" Yuffie asked Tifa, who shrugged.

The two girls walked deeper into the room and split up to look around. Rude strolled in several minutes later, but it would be a couple hours before Reno showed his face. He swaggered in to the room and stood for a moment, basking in his own presence even as no one else regarded him. He wanted to walk up to Tifa just to see her blush, but knew he couldn't. What would he normally do the day after he had sex with a woman? Nothing, because he wouldn't be there the next day. Well, that didn't help. What if he _had_ been there the next day? Ignore her, because he wouldn't have wanted to be there. That wouldn't work either.

He decided the best course of action in that moment was to go bother Rude, whose nose was buried in a book.

Nanaki's nose perked up again when Reno entered. The red beast whipped around and gagged when he realized Reno carried the same stench as Tifa. "_Tifa, what have you done?"_ he asked himself, now having the answer to his question from the day before regarding why Tifa carried the same scent as the two Turks who had arrived with her. He suddenly realized that other than the previous week, he had not seen his friend in nearly a year. What had been going on in Edge? Could he have helped her?

He watched in disgust as Reno was shooed away by Rude before making his way toward Tifa and Yuffie. He saw Tifa blush and Reno seemingly tease Yuffie by placing a hand on her head to indicate how short she was. Humans were weird.

Nanaki scratched his nose with a paw and turned back to the books. They smelled much better.

"I'm gonna go see what's on the balcony," Yuffie told Tifa and Reno. She had wanted to climb up the day before, but she especially wanted to get away from the hot-headed Turk that seemed to hate her but have the hots for her friend.

"Don't die," Reno said sarcastically, prompting a sharp look from Tifa.

Yuffie was already trotting toward a spiral staircase but turned around to stick her tongue out at Reno.

"Need anything on a high shelf over here?" Reno asked Tifa coolly, trying to seem casual.

Tifa giggled at his lame attempt to be near her.

"I think I'm good," she said.

Reno shrugged and picked up a book nearby and pretended to read it. He thought the words had just blurred together before he realized – a few awkward minutes later – that he had been "reading" a book written in the ancient Cetra language.

"Good read?" Tifa asked, having recognized the strange characters on the book as soon as Reno picked it up. She had just watched him pretend to read it, smiling to herself. Reno made a face at her as he returned the book to the shelf.

"You know, you won't feel so superior if it turns out that book had all the answers," he quipped, sticking his tongue out at her.

Vincent hadn't been paying attention to what anyone else had been doing. Nanaki interested him in a sense, but he didn't see much need for human interaction. They needed answers and they wouldn't find them by talking. So, he stuck his nose in a book and hadn't stopped reading. He'd made good time searching through the shelves near the entrance, but only because most of them had been written in the ancient Cetra language. He now wished he had spent that 30 years in a coffin doing something useful, like learning that language instead of unsuccessfully trying to atone for his sins.

Rude had hoped he would be the one to find the necessary information. He wasn't cut out for this kind of work. Sure, he was no dummy, he had read the classics and enjoyed a good thriller once in a while, but history had never interested him. And the books in this library were either in a language he didn't understand or too dense to follow. At least Hojo's notes had been scratched in a contemporary dialect. These books were difficult to understand even when written in English. That also confused him. Why _were_ some of the books in English?

Yuffie had a beautiful view from the balcony where she currently stood. Even the library in Wutai wasn't so magnificent. Not that she spent much time there anyway. Reading books about materia was nowhere near as interesting as finding it or using it.

She could see everyone from up here, too. Rude and Vincent were quietly, boringly reading. Yuffie made a face after watching each of them for a few seconds. Nanaki had been acting weird and was now as far away from everyone else as he could possibly get. While that was interesting, it was also boring, so Yuffie quickly turned her attention to Tifa and Reno. They were in their own little world. Tifa seemed to be trying to research, but Reno kept pestering her like a schoolboy with a crush. Yuffie was surprised he was so brazen with everyone else around. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could hear the occasional scoff or laugh as Reno would, say, take the book Tifa was reading and not give it back. He must have been a bully in high school.

She might as well look at the books while she was up there. She missed the days when their adventures required actual action – and materia. So far this time around she had spent more time in a library than she had throughout her entire life up until that point. Based on the progress they were making so far, she figured they'd be here a week unless someone found something sooner by chance. But when had chance ever been on their side?

Tifa rather welcomed Reno's interruptions because they took her mind off that sinking feeling of doom. She couldn't figure out why she seemed to be the only one feeling this way or thinking she could hear Aeris.

Nanaki, Vincent, and Yuffie had all been her friends, too. Tifa's head wasn't hurting anymore, it was more like a feeling in her gut several minutes before she had her panic attack. Except the panic attack wasn't coming. She kind of wished it would just come, because Reno had taught her how to handle it, and then she could be over and done with it and get back to helping everyone without issue.

She had thought Reno would be cold to her after she had given him what he'd wanted all along. She thought he'd ignore her all day – whether because he was done with her or to keep the others from suspecting anything – but he seemed to be flagrantly daring them to suspect. He was teasing her in an obviously flirtatious manner, and not even being quiet about it, considering they were in a library.

For his part, Reno was trying to be _Reno_ as much as possible. He didn't know how to act in this situation because he had never _been_ in this situation. He knew he must be driving Tifa crazy by sticking around her, but embarrassing himself and possibly letting everyone know there was something between them was a small price to pay to avoid reading through these boring old books.

A sudden shush from Nanaki brought him back to reality. He shrugged at Tifa and gave a sheepish smile before digging his hands in his pockets and slumping away. Tifa composed herself and returned to her reading. The task at hand seemed daunting, and she hoped someone would find something soon.

Reno cursed himself for drawing the red beast's attention. This isn't how he acted toward a woman after having sex with her. This isn't how he _felt_ toward a woman after having sex with her. He had to get under control. He didn't like this version of himself, acting like some schoolboy with a crush? He had to retain his cool. He grabbed a book off a shelf and, first making sure it was in English, actually read it. He refused to turn back to look at Tifa, too worried the others – mainly Yuffie or that creature that was somehow _not_ setting the books on fire with his tail – would think he'd gone soft. They were still members of AVALANCHE and he was still a Turk. They may be currently working together, but the animosity lingered. Reno considered this a temporary truce.

With Reno looking through a shelf somewhere behind her, Tifa could feel whatever it was that made her want to leave this place. It was stronger when he wasn't near her, but that was probably because he took her mind off of it rather than his presence alone. She fought to suppress or ignore the feeling as best she could. She could never get over the idea of needing to be the team's rock as she had been when they were chasing Sephiroth. She was counted on to make sure other people held up, even if she herself was struggling. It was easier back then when Cloud needed her, and she merely had a crush on him. Now she was with people who were all mentally strong, so no one needed her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe the next book would have the answer.

_Later…_

By nightfall Tifa was ready to claw her hair out. Aeris was practically shoving her out of the Forgotten Capital and she didn't understand why. The butterflies in her stomach were starting to grow razor-sharp teeth and bite her insides. She sat up in her bed and tried to remember what Reno taught her about panic attacks. Yuffie was asleep and snoring, but it was the closest thing Tifa had to someone else's breathing, so she tried to match her breaths with the sounds emanating from the young ninja. She then focused on a point at the far end of the room. What else did he say? Oh yeah. She started saying as quietly as she could, "This shall pass, this shall pass."

"Tifa?" Apparently Yuffie wasn't always a heavy sleeper. "Tifa are you okay?"

"I'm," Tifa started while taking a deep breath, "fine."

Yuffie hopped out of her bed and ran over to her friend. Tifa almost looked like Yuffie did when she was seasick.

"You don't look fine," Yuffie admonished. "What's going on? You've been acting weird since we got here."

Tifa continued to try and regulate her breathing, even though she wasn't having a panic attack. She thought that maybe if she treated it like that she could make the feeling go away.

"I think I need to leave this place," Tifa said finally. "I just have this overwhelming feeling like I need to go home. I can't explain it."

"If you need to go, then go. No one's going to blame you for not helping. I mean, it's not like all of AVALANCHE is here anyway."

Tifa was appreciative of Yuffie's concern, but she wasn't about to abandon her friends. Besides, if she left, Reno would have to take her, and there's no way her friends would trust him to come back for them. She just needed to fight harder to get through this.

"It's okay, I just need to fight it," she told the ninja. "It's just a feeling. I can overcome it."

"Tifa, stop it," Yuffie said. "You're shaking."

Tifa hadn't even realized she was quivering. Goddammit, she was stronger than this. She made a fist and pounded it on the bed. The two women heard a faint crack.

"Yeah, you're doing great," Yuffie added with a sarcastic eye roll.

"Just go back to bed, I'll be fine," Tifa nearly hissed.

Yuffie narrowed her eyes for a moment. She returned to her own bed as Tifa asked, but gave her friend one last sharp look.

"If you get any worse I'll make that Turk take you home."

Tifa got back under the oddly preserved bed covers and concentrated every fiber of her being on controlling her movements to stop making others uncomfortable. She started with her toes and worked up – trying to control the shaking, calm her breathing, release the butterflies, and clear her mind. Zangan had taught her some meditation techniques along with her fighting moves, and she was using them now more than ever.

Within an hour she was at least able to sleep somewhat peacefully until daybreak. She joined the others in the library and continued her meditation whenever she felt she was starting to lose control.

By noon, the techniques were no longer helping, and she couldn't read and meditate at the same time. She tried to just read to be useful but was quickly noticed by Yuffie.

"That's it!" the ninja said loudly, flailing her arms to the side and drawing everyone's attention – except Vincent's.

She approached Reno and pointed a finger at him. "You! Helicopter man!"

"That's _Mr._ Helicopter man, thankyouverymuch," Reno retorted without missing a beat. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"You need to get Tifa out of here, she's not feeling well."

Reno blinked at Yuffie and then glanced at Tifa, who was visibly distressed. He had been trying to ignore her since yesterday to stop his mind from getting… giddy. Now he was being offered the chance to rescue her. He kind of liked the idea.

"Uh, what's wrong?" he asked, as if he didn't know. He scratched the back of his head for added effect.

"She just needs to get out of here! Take her home!" Yuffie demanded.

"Hey! You don't give me orders!" Reno snapped. Regardless of Tifa's needs, he was _not_ going to be hassled by a pest like Yuffie.

Yuffie scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. Tifa stepped forward, shaking like a leaf.

"Please, don't be angry," she implored both of them. "I just… I think it would be best if I went home. Reno, can you take me?"

"What about us?" Nanaki asked, having padded up to the group from across the room.

Reno rubbed the back of his neck. What a hassle.

"Yeesh," he said. "I can come back for you all after."

"How can we trust you?"

"Rude'll stay behind as collateral," the redhead offered.

Rude huffed and crossed his arms.

"Excuse me?" the bald man asked indignantly.

"I'm sorry this is so inconvenient for everyone," Tifa said, hanging her head. "I'll just push through."

"No, I'll take you back, Ti—Lockhart," Reno insisted. "I'm taking Rude, but the rest of you'll just have to take my word for it that we'll come back."

Nanaki seemed to be the only one concerned about being left behind. Vincent was still engrossed in a book and Yuffie was the one insisting Reno take Tifa home. He looked around at the others for support. Finding none, he sighed.

"Fine," he said after a moment.

Reno and Rude nodded to each other and approached Tifa to accompany her to get her belongings.

Once they reached the helicopter, Rude stepped into the back to sit with Tifa as Reno settled into the pilot's seat, suddenly not as excited to be Shinra's only chopper pilot.

"What's been going on?" Rude asked Tifa once they were in the air.

"I don't know, really. I can't explain it," Tifa said, her eyes on floor. Rude grunted simply to acknowledge he had heard her.

Tifa could feel the weight lifting as soon as they were heading away from the Forgotten Capital. Was she just homesick? That had never happened before. But the closer they were to Edge, they better she felt. The butterflies were gone and Aeris' voice had disappeared, though part of Tifa liked the fact that she could hear her best friend's voice again – even if she couldn't understand what Aeris was saying.

"Any better?" Rude asked once they could see Edge from the windows.

Tifa looked up and nodded weakly.

Reno set the chopper down just outside of the city, scaring away a few groups of fiends.

"Man, we've only been gone a few days and it's like this," he observed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rude helped Tifa out of the chopper and toward Edge. Reno hopped out and caught up to them. He blushed a little, and turned to Rude.

"Hey uh, can you give us a minute?" he asked. Rude's eyebrows pinched below the top of his sunglasses and he scoffed but complied.

Tifa watched Rude walk away and turned her attention to Reno, a puzzled look on her face.

"Uh, did you want me to come by after I drop off the chopper?" Reno asked nervously, not even making eye contact.

Tifa smiled warmly.

"It's too dangerous out there. Your place is closer to Shinra, right? I think I'll be fine."

"Uh, yeah, okay then," Reno stammered. "Hey, Lock—Tifa, look… I usually don't date…"

"Usually?" Tifa asked, cocking her head to the side. She crossed her arms and regarded him skeptically. "I didn't think you _ever_ dated."

"You didn't let me finish," he said. "I _don't_ date but, ah," he looked down and scratched the back of his head, "maybe I could take you out sometime?"

Tifa's smile grew a little wider, but she showed no teeth.

"I usually don't accept dates…" she teased, "… but I think I'll make an exception."

Reno half-coughed and straightened up a little, trying to maintain his cool.

"Okay, yeah. I'll see ya Lock—Tifa." Reno turned and trotted back to the helicopter to join Rude.

Tifa watched him a moment but decided to use the distraction caused by the chopper to get through the monsters in the area. She managed to make it home relatively easy, and leaned back on the door once she was inside.

The mysterious, terrible feeling was gone, replaced with the guilt she felt from leaving her friends to conduct the search and wait for Reno to decide to go back and get them – if he did at all.

_That night…_

The residents of Edge living on the main street into town were awakened one by one by a strange and grating sound. It was different than the usual noises made by monsters at night – it wasn't a growl or a hiss or a thud from one being pushed up against a building. No, this was much more irritating and frightening – because it was new.

It sounded like something heavy getting dragged along the pavement. It wasn't a non-stop sound, and so those who woke up assumed it must be some new kind of creature. Not one person ventured to turn on a light or approach the window. It was one thing to hear the new beast, it was quite another to actually see it.

One little boy was awakened and looked in the direction of his window as the sound became louder. He thought it must be a monster due to what could only be a staggered gate causing whatever was being dragged – possibly some kind of horn or spike on a tail – to cease every so often. _Schlenk. Schlenk. Schlenk_.

It was like nails on a chalkboard, and as the sound approached the street below his window, the boy swore he saw a shadow pass across the cool blue light streaming into his room. Knowing that blankets are a surefire way to keep monsters from attacking, the boy hid under his bedspread, curling into the fetal position and shutting his eyes tight. Whatever was outside couldn't get him as long as he didn't look out from under his sheets.

_Schlenk. Schlenk. Schlenk._

The sound was not tinny enough for it to be coming from some annoying soul dragging a trash can, too heavy to be someone simply dragging their feet. The sound, gritty and imposing, continued to travel up the main street of Edge, ruining the nights of those who lived in its wake.

The next morning, the townspeople would find a trail of large blood drops leading from the desert outside the city and up the street, partially smeared by whatever had been dragged along the pavement. Boots, caked with mud and splattered with blood – some of it dried weeks ago, some of it new, and some of it not even belonging to the owner of the footwear - struggled to travel deeper into Edge.

The dragging sound kept most of the fiends startled enough to stay away, but when the source of the noise approached one particular building along Edge's main road, a wild elfadunk just refused to budge.

The boots picked up their pace and the dragging stopped. As the elfadunk charged at its intended target, a streetlight caught the side of a large metallic object and blinded the creature long enough for a sharp weapon to slice it from chest to chin. With just feet left to travel, the source of the dragging's last ounce of strength expended on the fiend, it collapsed on the steps outside Seventh Heaven, managing to rock the front door on its way to the ground.

**End Notes: Well, here we are, the beginning of the end. I don't know how many chapters are left, but we're definitely closer to the end than the beginning.**

**I again apologize to everyone who hated the last chapter, I must have written it all wrong.**


	31. Hold On

**A/N: Rated M for language.**

**Thank you for the new reviews. They lifted my spirits. Seriously.**

Chapter 31:

His couch wasn't the _worst_ place Reno could have fallen asleep, but the piece of furniture definitely wasn't meant for long-term comfort. Sure, he could sit on it all day watching movies and playing video games, but lying down and napping was a different story. It was there for its aesthetic, not its function, even though it wasn't like he entertained.

For a moment he forgot why he was even sleeping on his couch in the first place. Oh, right. He had left Tifa outside Edge after asking her out on a date – something he had never done before and which was still racking his nerves. Then he dropped off Rude near his apartment building. The bald man had actually agreed to take the rope ladder down just to avoid the fiends that were crowding the streets. Reno, of course, didn't have that luxury as he had to take the helicopter back to HQ.

He couldn't use his rooftop method to get home since he would have needed to climb down to cross multiple streets and then climb up onto another building. He booked it as fast as he could, which was definitely faster than most, but it wasn't enough to avoid the monsters. By the time he fought his way back to his building, he was exhausted. Honestly, he was rather grateful he made it to the couch at all, since the ground had been so much closer to the door.

He groaned his usual morning groan, as if daylight were a bully taunting him. He sat up and bent his neck to one side, releasing several large _craaack_ sounds. He did the same on the other side and pushed his jaw upward to deepen the stretch. His neck and shoulders were definitely in pain from sleeping on the too-firm surface of the couch, and his lower abdomen hurt from where he had slept on his belt buckle.

This day was not starting out great, he thought to himself as he stumbled into the bathroom to shower. He was wearing his shoes still and stepped out of them as he dropped his other clothes into a crumpled pile on the floor. The heat from the shower soothed his aching muscles and he closed his eyes to reflect on his past two days with Tifa. Sex, and then he _still_ wanted to see her? It was a foreign concept to him and he did _not_ like the way he had been so giddy around her since their encounter. She was the only thing on his mind and he hated it. He just wanted to get ready and see her again – or stop thinking about her altogether and return to his usual casual disinterest.

After he stepped out of the shower and walked to his bathroom mirror he noticed there was a missed call on his phone. He picked up the PHS and flipped it open. The missed call was from Rude. Odd. Turks didn't usually call each other unless they were on a mission and Rude especially was not much of a phone person. He tapped Rude's name to call him back and brought the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?" the bald man asked on the other end. No phone etiquette whatsoever.

"Hey, it's me," Reno said, bending his neck to hold the phone between his shoulder and ear so he could keep getting ready. Rude took enough time to answer that Reno actually thought he had lost the connection. "You still there?"

"Yeah," Rude responded.

"So… you called?" Reno asked as it didn't seem his partner was going to actually tell him why he called. He could hear Rude exhale heavily on the other end. Reno couldn't tell if the bald Turk was apprehensive about the information he had to relay or if this was just how he was on the phone. Again, Reno had limited experience with talking to Rude on the phone, but when they had used one previously to communicate it had been during a mission so Rude was terse.

"We found something in the Seventh Heave recordings I think you need to hear," Rude said sullenly.

Reno swallowed a lump in his throat and felt a pit emerging in his stomach. Had something happened to Tifa after he dropped her off? Was she hurt? He _knew_ he should have gone back to her after returning the chopper. She had struggled for _days_ at the Forgotten Capital and yet he listened to her when she said she would be alright. He had been trying to appear his usual cool self, and now she might be hurt.

He quickly dressed and was buckling his belt as he rushed out the door. He considered running to Tifa's instead of going to the Shinra building. Impulse control was not one of his strong suits, but the streets were so overrun with fiends he knew it would be safer to go to HQ first.

He knew something was seriously wrong – and that Rude wasn't just being vague – when he saw Elena's face in their office. She looked up at him as though _she_ were about to cry and his eyebrows immediately shifted in concern. She quickly looked away from him and shifted her gaze to her desk, shuffling papers in an attempt to busy herself.

Rude stood up when Reno entered and folded his arms across his chest. Reno, being able to translate Rude's subtle movements to an extent, was now certain Tifa was either injured or may have said something that would get Reno fired. The translations sometimes left something to be desired.

The bald man motioned for Reno to enter Tseng's office and placed a hand on his back when he turned to do so. Tseng looked up as the two entered with his usual stony expression. Reno slowly eased himself into one of the chairs across from his boss' desk – now thoroughly prepared to get reamed. He actually hoped that's what would happen instead of Tifa being in danger.

Rude sat in the other chair and Tseng leaned forward, bringing his hands up in front of his chin and intertwining his fingers as he usually did when beginning a lecture.

"The recording devices in Seventh Heaven picked something up late last night," Tseng said, providing Reno as much information as Rude had previously.

There was a device on Tseng's desk with a speaker and several buttons on it. Tseng kept one hand floating in the air in front of his chin while bringing the other to press a button on the tape player. For a few seconds Reno heard nothing but soft static.

"I don't hear anything," he said, now hoping this was just some kind of joke.

"Keep listening," Tseng said, turning up the volume dial.

Reno still only heard the static of the recorder for a while until a loud _thump_ could be heard on the tape. It was loud enough to make him jump in his seat and immediately feared Tifa had fallen or been attacked. After a few more moments of static, the three Turks heard muffled sounds that could only be heard when the volume was turned up but were instantly recognized as footsteps upstairs. The footfalls were then heard coming down the stairs along with the creaks of the wood panels. The steps were slow and hesitant, and for a while no one heard anything. It made no sense to Reno why they would be playing this for him. A monster probably hit her building and now she was coming downstairs to check it.

His heart dropped. Did this creature end up hurting her?

Another moment passed before they could hear what seemed to be light footsteps moving across the room. Then nothing, again. Reno's heart was beating faster, but since nothing had actually happened he was getting a little irritated that he might be worked up for nothing. He was about to stand up and say something when he heard the sound of a door opening on the tape and Tifa scream.

Okay, _that_ made him jump up. Tseng paused the tape.

"I have to go help her!" Reno heard himself saying like he was somehow responsible for protecting her. Tseng shook his head.

"Keep listening," he admonished.

Reno looked at Tseng, then at Rude, and sat back down, unsure why the men were looking at him the way they were and not really wanting to find out.

"_Cloud!"_ they heard Tifa cry on the tape.

That did it. Reno's heart sank into that pit in his stomach as white hot jealousy climbed up his spine and settled in the back of his neck. His hands started to ball into fists and his foot started tapping violently in irritation. He wasn't even aware it was happening.

They heard some more sounds on the tape that weren't clear. Fumbling and muffled sounds of dragging across the wood floor before another _thud_.

"_Cloud, what happened to you?"_ Tifa could be heard on the tape. The Turks couldn't hear any words in response, just the muted grunts of someone who sounded near death. _"Cloud, please don't leave me. I'm here. You're home. Please…"_

More footsteps could then be heard as Tifa moved around the bar.

"_Just stay with me, Cloud. Please hang on."_

They could hear more sounds, like rummaging.

"_I've got it. Cloud, stay with me."_

More footsteps, much faster this time. Another _thud_. Then the tinny, shrill sound of a materia spell.

"_Cloud? Please don't leave me… please…"_

Sobbing. Reno recognized the sound of Tifa crying and it made him twitch. He hated to see her cry and hated even more that she was crying because of _Cloud_. Even worse, Reno couldn't be there to help her.

The sound of another spell cast.

"_Nngh."_

"_Cloud? Cloud can you hear me? Cloud? Cloud?"_

More crying.

"_Please don't die on me, Cloud. I need you…"_

For a while all they heard was Tifa's sobs. Reno scoffed and looked away, crossing his arms in defiance. He wouldn't let his coworkers think this meant anything to him, because it didn't. So what if his lower eyelids were twitching? He steeled his expression and gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in. So that spiked dumbass was back? Who cares? Not Reno, he assured himself.

"_Nngh."_

"_Cloud?_" Tifa's voice lifted a little.

"_Ugh."_

"_Cloud?"_

"_Ti… fa…"_

"_Cloud!"_ The sound of leather shuffling on a wooden floor.

"_Ti… fa,"_ even after two curaga spells he still sounded barely alive, _"I'm sorry."_

"_It's okay," _they heard Tifa say, her voice comforting like a mother's. _"You're here now. Just rest."_

Tseng stopped the tape and Reno leapt up from his chair. His expression held firm but his eyes looked to be casting fire, as if his head were about to erupt in flames.

"So what? So that blonde basket case is back? What does it have to do with me?" he shot his two colleagues a look laced with acid. Tseng and Rude exchanged glances.

"We just thought…" Tseng began.

"Thought what?" Reno cut him off. "That I _cared_ about her? Tch. I _got_ what I wanted from her already, yo. I'm done with her. Choco-wuss can have her. She's worthless to me anyway. Used up, yo. Nothing."

"Reno…" Rude tried to interject. He knew when his partner was losing control.

"I'm _fine!_" Reno said, swatting at the air. "Now, if you'll _excuse_ me, I'm going to get some lunch."

Reno turned on his heel and attempted to simply stroll out of the room but his gait was too heavy. Elena lifted her head from her desk, having spent the past few minutes trying to pretend she wasn't listening. Her eyes were watery as she watched Reno dash past her, causing loose papers to fly from her desk. She whipped around in her chair as Rude and Tseng emerged from the office. Tseng crossed his arms and watched Reno slam the office door behind him. The raven-haired Turk shook his head and returned to his desk.

Rude didn't know what to do. Reno was quick to anger and overreaction, but not over a woman. Rude didn't know what to say in this situation, so he just looked helplessly at Elena, who nodded.

"I'll go," she said. Rude affirmed her decision with a grunt that, if she had been as good at translating him as Reno, said "thank you."

_Meanwhile…_

Reno didn't react to the sound of the door slamming behind him even though he was sure the entire building heard it. He was actually surprised – and pissed – that it didn't just break. When had he become so weak?

He stomped away from the Turks' office to prove just how okay with the situation he was. All he wanted from Tifa was sex, and he got that. Maybe he wanted to fuck her a few more times, but that was it. That date? That was a joke. He did that so she wouldn't feel bad about their encounter. He wasn't actually going to take her up on it. At least, that's what he told himself now.

The few people who were still coming into the building quickly moved out of his way as he stormed through the hallways toward the employee lounge. Some literally leapt from his path, while others turned to walk in a different direction, knowing better than to get on the wrong side of a Turk when they were in a bad mood.

He collapsed into a chair at one of the tables in the lounge and tapped his fingers erratically on the table while tapping his foot almost violently. After everything… Fuck. No. He didn't care. Cloud was always going to come back. Cloud and Tifa. Tifa and Cloud. They were as eternal as night and day. There was no room for anyone else. And Reno had never thought beyond screwing her.

What, did Rude and Tseng think he and Tifa were going to get married, buy a house, and raise a family? He's a Turk and she was a terrorist. Family life was out of the question for him for _sure_, especially with someone like her. She should have died in Sector 7.

Reno's pupils dilated at that last thought and he made a soft "_engh_" sound that surprised even him. He didn't want that. Whatever would happen between them now, he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

He straightened his back and felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He snapped his head to see Elena standing beside him, her eyes still slightly red and puffy from having cried earlier.

"Now what?" he hissed at her.

Elena had gone there prepared to try and comfort Reno as if he had accepted his feelings for Tifa, but now she was sure that approach would make him close up. Instead, she half-sat on the table beside him with one leg bent and the other on the ground for support. She leaned in to speak to him softly.

"I'm sorry they made their assumptions," she offered. "You know how boys are."

Reno scoffed but didn't look at her. She was just here because she thought he was upset about Tifa. When he wasn't. Nope. Not even a little. Not even at all.

"I mean, who are they to assume you would actually have feelings for someone," Elena began. "Not you. You're Reno."

"Damn straight," he responded, slamming his fist on the table and making Elena wobble.

"She was just a challenge to you, like any other woman," the young blonde continued.

Reno shot her a look. "She was _not_ like any other woman," he snarled.

"Oh, please. She had tits and an ass. What more do you need?"

Reno looked back at the table and fidgeted with his hands. He sneered at her comment but didn't want to fight.

"I know what you're doing," he said quietly.

"I'm just telling you I understand," Elena insisted. "You're not the romantic type. You didn't see her as anything other than a sex doll."

"That's… shut up," Reno said, wanting this conversation to be over.

Elena stood up from the table and moved to sit in the chair next to Reno, dragging it closer to him so she could lean in and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay to be mad at them for thinking you had suddenly become some hopeless romantic," she said.

"That's not what pisses me off…" Reno let his voice trail. He knew what Elena had been doing, but dammit it had worked.

"Oh? Then why are you slamming doors and sitting here alone looking like you could choke a Midgar zolom?"

Reno didn't speak for awhile, hoping Elena would just go away. When she didn't, he tapped his fingers once on the table but still didn't meet her gaze.

"I'm pissed because," ugh, what could he say that didn't let them think they were right? "You all just see me as a joke." That'll fool them. "It's like 'Oh, look at Reno, the screwup who fucks women and loses his temper.'"

Elena was not expecting him to say that. She had set him up discuss his true feelings for Tifa but he apparently didn't take the bait. Or he really _was_ upset at how he thought the other Turks viewed him.

"That's… not how we see you," she countered weakly.

Reno finally lifted his head to glower at her.

"It's not? Isn't that why you're all acting this way?" his eyes narrowed at her. "You all wanted Tifa to change me?"

Elena looked genuinely shocked and a little hurt. Her eyebrows knitted together, and she let out a little gasp.

"Guh?" she said. "We don't want you to change, Reno. We just thought… well, maybe you had found someone."

"Well, I didn't," he said, turning from her and waving a hand in the air dismissively. "Sorry to disappoint."

Elena wasn't done. She knew Reno was lying, but why? Why was he so determined not to admit his feelings?

"Well, that's too bad," the blonde told him, standing up from her chair and turning to walk away. "Because _if_ you actually liked her, I'd say you shouldn't throw in the towel."

She started walking away, her heels clacking on the floor as the sound echoed throughout the nearly empty room. It wasn't as grand as the executive lounge in the old building – no giant tree in the middle – but it was still pretty nice. Not nice enough for Rufus to eat here, but nice enough for the other executives.

"Why would you say that?" she heard him ask when she was a few feet away, a smile drawing across her lips. _Got him_.

She twisted to look over her shoulder at him and kept her nose pointing downward, the grin still visible.

"Women's intuition," she offered before continuing to walk.

"What the hell does _that_ mean?" Reno asked.

Was she messing with him? If so, why? Was it because of the stapler prank? But that was years ago! Okay, there were a dozen or so more reasons why she would want to get back at him, but this seemed like an exceedingly cruel way to go about doing it. Had she heard something on the tapes when he wasn't around?

He crossed one leg over the other, resting his ankle on the opposite knee, and leaned back in his chair, still tapping his fingers on the table. Tifa had sounded awfully upset over Strife's near-death re-entry, but it could have just been shock. Maybe Elena knew something he didn't, something only women understood about each other. Maybe he still had a chance, er, to screw Tifa again. Since that was all he would have wanted if he _had_ wanted anything else from her, which he most certainly did not.

Still, he couldn't ignore what he had heard. It didn't make him want to go running to Seventh Heaven right now. Well, actually it did, but the version of himself that would show up there now would be a blustering fool who would embarrass the real Reno, so it was probably better to hold back for a bit. Maybe if he just listened to the recorders a little while longer, he'd learn something.

_The previous night…_

Cloud was covered in blood and smelled like a swamp, but none of that bothered Tifa as she feared he wouldn't even survive until morning. She cradled him in her lap after she cast two curaga spells. He improved enough to say a few words to her, but his breathing was labored, and it seemed physically painful to form the words. She had one arm across his chest holding him up onto her legs and her other hand supporting his head, clutching him to her chest as if that would save him.

"What happened to you?" she practically whispered, her tears falling onto his forehead and running down his temples.

He managed to slowly, shakily, reach a hand up as she watched him struggle and place his hand on her forearm. Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest as she imagined what could have happened to him over the past two months. Maybe he really had sought forgiveness and was injured along the way? Or it was just him against all the monsters, across half the world and back. She had been so hurt by his leaving in the beginning she didn't think to go after him – too afraid she'd look obsessed and that she had been too clingy. She thought she had driven him away.

His headaches had been getting worse, but she could have kept trying to help if he let her. She thought he had left her… for Aeris. She looked for him when she was in the air, around the city, and in the Forgotten Capital – he wasn't there. She had broken during the first two weeks and gone to Aeris' church… just in case. He hadn't been there, and she didn't want to follow him if he really had left her.

Now she hated herself for not searching for him when he didn't come back; when his phone stopped working. She held him silently now, praying her mistake didn't cost him his life. She couldn't cast another curaga spell on him – the effect would be diminished.

"Cloud, hang on," she told him, easing him off her lap and gently onto the floor.

She stood up and ran back to the storage room to grab the single elixir she had left behind when she went to the Forgotten Capital. She dropped to the ground and slid a short distance to return to Cloud's form. She again propped him up on her lap, popping the cork out of the bottle and pouring the potion down his throat.

Cloud sputtered and choked for a second before calming down again. Still, he didn't appear to be getting any better. Tifa shook him gently and he continued to make painful sounds when trying to speak. Suddenly, he clutched his head and screamed in pain, rolling off Tifa's lap and curling into the fetal position.

"Cloud! What's wrong?" she tried to yell over his pain.

The curaga should have worked. The second curaga should have helped more. The elixir _definitely_ should have worked. She had always taken care of Cloud after battles – well, sometimes she just helped Aeris – but other than his time in Mideel, she had never needed to take him to a hospital for his injuries. Now she didn't know what to do. Nothing was working and she didn't want to just wait and see in case…

She pulled out her PHS and called 911. She couldn't take the chance.

"Tifa…" Cloud said after a few minutes of clutching his head.

"_911 what's your emergency?"_

Tifa put a hand on Cloud's forehead and brushed his hair back as she spoke.

"My, um, friend is really hurt and curaga hasn't helped…"

"_Curaga hasn't helped?"_

"No. Neither did an elixir."

"_What's your address?"_ Tifa provided the operator with the address to Seventh Heaven. _"We're sending someone right now."_

Tifa would have thought the hospitals wouldn't be able to help people with the increase in fiends, but the ambulance klaxons apparently scared them off, clearing the streets to allow for rescues. She continued to hold Cloud close to her chest as she waited for the paramedics to arrive. He didn't appear to have any gunshot wounds or anything else that would _require_ medical attention. He didn't seem to be suffering from Mako poisoning again, since he could form words. Yet the cure spells and potion didn't work.

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later and asked her the same questions as the 911 operator. They checked Cloud's vitals and lifted him onto a stretcher.

"What's wrong with him?" Tifa asked desperately as he was wheeled away from her.

One of the paramedics turned back to tell her he didn't know.

"His vitals are within normal but he's non-responsive," the man said. "The doctors will know more."

Tifa climbed into the back of the ambulance and held Cloud's hand tightly as they sped toward the hospital. The only words Cloud seemed capable of saying were "Tifa," and "I'm sorry," which he repeated whenever he was not writhing in pain.

_Later…_

When Tifa was finally able to get into a room to see Cloud, she found him hooked up to various medical devices. She hadn't seen him look so weak since Mideel, a memory she did not want to relive. A doctor came in a few hours later looking a little starstruck at the two celebrities in the room.

"This is _the_ Cloud Strife?" she asked when she entered and looked at his chart. Tifa nodded. "So you must be Tifa Lockhart?" Another nod.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"Not exactly," the short, pudgy, middle-aged woman answered. "As I'm sure you're aware, spells and potions can't replace medical science, so while you did the right thing and healed his superficial wounds, you couldn't fix everything."

"Everything?"

"We're going to keep him overnight to let him rest. He's exhausted from some intense fight."

"That seems pretty simple," Tifa said, sounding a little more hopeful.

"Well, that's not all," the woman said. "Have you ever had a migraine?"

"No," Tifa replied. "But I've seen people suffer from them."

"Okay, well, Cloud is essentially having the world's worst migraine. But it's not constant and it's not going away. Basically, it comes and goes. He might be clear a few minutes, and then suffer a few minutes."

"Oh my God."

"We gave him an injection of Sumatriptan but it doesn't seem to have done much," the doctor continued. "Has he had headaches like this before?"

Tifa sighed and looked at the floor. "…Yes. He got them years ago while we were fighting Sephiroth. They stopped after we defeated him and Jenova… but they started again almost a year ago."

"Like this?"

"No… he'd only get them once in a while but then he started getting them more and more," Tifa said. "He left… two months ago… I didn't know they had gotten this bad."

"I see. Well, these aren't like regular migraines. They look very similar to migraines when we see them in his brain, but because the Sumatriptan did nothing I rechecked the scans. They're not exactly migraines, but I don't know what they are."

Tifa looked up at her questioningly.

"You said the last time he got them it was related to Sephiroth and Jenova?" the doctor asked.

"Yes."

"I see."

"Is there anything you can do?" Tifa's eyes were wide and watery.

"We're going to keep him over night. He's been through… something. He seems to have been traveling and fighting for a while, it was a miracle he made it back to your home from wherever he was in this condition. You must be really special to him."

Tifa bristled.

"We'll check him in the morning. He might be able to go home then," the doctor continued.

"What about the headaches?"

The doctor paused, looking down at the brunette bartender sitting in the chair and wishing she had something better to say. "All I can suggest is… if _you_ find something to help him, please let us know?"

"_What?_" Tifa was incensed and stood up abruptly from her chair beside Cloud. "That's it? Are you sending him home to die?" Tears were streaming down her face. She just got Cloud back. She couldn't lose him like this. He was too strong, had come too far to die like this.

"I wish I had better news," the doctor said before rushing from the room and leaving Tifa standing to watch after her, hands balled into fists and cheeks stained with tears.

She blinked a few times after the doctor disappeared, her mouth hanging agape. Had that even just happened? She closed her mouth and looked down at Cloud, who seemed to be asleep.

"Cloud… what happened to you?" she sat back down in the chair next to his bed and held his hand in hers again. Whatever Cloud had been through, he used his last ounce of strength to return to her.

He might be dying, and he wanted to be with her. And what had she done these past few months? Fucked around with a _Turk_. Sure, she thought Cloud had left her, but the reality of what had happened was starting to sink in and Tifa became consumed with guilt.

Even if they figured out how to cure his headaches – or he learned to live with them – she'd still lose him once he learned what she had done. There was no forgiving that. She couldn't even see forgiving herself at this moment. This must be… her punishment for being so stupid, for giving up on Cloud instead of giving him more time, instead of looking for him herself when she started thinking he might be hurt.

She folded her arms on the edge of his bed and buried her face, sobbing freely.

_The next morning…_

Cloud's eyes opened wearily to find himself in a hospital room. He remembered seeing the door to Seventh Heaven but not much else. Tifa must have found him. Of course she did, who else was always there for him?

He jerked violently when another headache hit. White hot flashes seared his brain in excruciating pain as images flashed in his mind. Of what, he didn't know, but he got the sense that he needed to travel north. It was a similar feeling to what he experienced when Sephiroth was controlling him. But he destroyed Sephiroth and Jenova. How could this be happening again?

When the headache subsided he noticed Tifa was standing next to him, with the same horrified look on her face she had when the Northern Crater started to collapse and he was falling into the Lifestream. At that time, Cloud thought Aeris was reaching for him, but it was actually Tifa. He saved her then.

"Tifa?" he asked as her dark brown eyes trembled.

Her hair was messy and her eyes were red and puffy from crying and lack of sleep. He thought she had never looked more beautiful – and was happy to be with her again. He reached up a hand weakly for her to take, which she did. He squeezed her fingers with his own just to make sure she was really there with him.

"Cloud?" she said, needing to make sure he had really survived the night.

"Yes?"

Without another word, Tifa broke into sobs and leaned over Cloud to hug him as best she could. He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him.

"Tifa," he said again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't," she said, pulling away from him. "Please, just rest. We can do this later. Right now, I just want to be with you."

_Later…_

Tifa's heart was heavy as she and Cloud returned to Seventh Heaven after he was released from the hospital. He had three headaches on the trip home, leaving Tifa to handle most of the monsters. She didn't mind, and Cloud was able to help a little out of necessity. He also tried to fight through the migraine as best he could, but Tifa could tell it was a massive struggle for him.

He held her hand as they entered the bar downstairs, but she couldn't enjoy his presence. She not only felt incredibly guilty for thinking he had left her and seeing Reno, but she also felt a pang of confusion. She had grown to enjoy the Turk's presence the past couple months. It wasn't like that was just gone now that Cloud was back.

She felt torn, though her focus now was on Cloud and trying to figure out what she could do to help him.

"Have you found anything that helped?" she asked as he leaned on her for assistance getting up the stairs.

"Not really," he said despondently. "It seemed a little better in the Forgotten Capital, so I thought I could come home, but the closer I got the worse they got."

Tifa looked at him sadly, taking a seat at the kitchen island. Cloud sat next to her, fidgeting his hands on the counter and looking down.

"Tifa…" he trailed off. After a pause, he met her gaze, his own eyes quivering. "I don't know how long I can make it…"

Tifa clenched her jaw and shook her head furiously as tears began to fall again.

"Don't talk like that!" she said, flailing her arms to the side. "Nanaki and Vincent have theories. They're at the Forgotten Capital right now looking for answers!"

Cloud blinked at her but said nothing.

"There are monsters all over the world. Vincent and I went to Nibelheim to look through Hojo's old research. Then Yuffie and I went to Cosmo canyon to search with Nanaki. He thinks some part of Jenova might still be alive and calling those with its cells again. They're all at the Forgotten Capital now. We found a hidden library…"

"Tifa…"

"You can't give up!"

"…we defeated Jenova."

"Maybe we missed something!"

"Gah!" Cloud clutched his head as another headache started. Tifa leaned over to put her hands on his shoulders as he suffered.

She hadn't heard from Yuffie or Nanaki since she left. They must not have found anything. Given the intensity of Cloud's headaches and the little amount of time he had between them, she worried he wouldn't survive before they found the answer. No one could handle that.

"You said you felt better at the Forgotten Capital?" she asked when Cloud came out of it.

"Yeah but that was… a month ago."

"You've… been trying to get back here ever since?"

Cloud lowered his eyes to the floor.

"I'm sorry it took so long…"

"Don't worry about that now," Tifa insisted. "Maybe if we go back there, you'll feel better."

"I can't survive another trip up there, Tifa. My bike was destroyed and there's no way we can travel like we used to."

Tifa knew asking Reno to fly them back there was out of the question. She didn't know how the red-haired Turk really felt about her, but she figured it would be too big a risk letting him near Cloud where he could talk about what they had done.

"Cid's airship was damaged by fiends, but he's been working to fix it," Tifa informed the blonde warrior. "I'll call him."

Tifa flipped open her PHS – no messages from Reno – and found Cid's number in her contacts. She heard his phone start to ring as Cloud brought his head down to the counter with another headache. Of course, Cid answered as Cloud was in the midst of a painful cry.

"What the fuck?" Cid said instead of "hello."

"Cid? Hold on a minute," she yelled over Cloud.

She rubbed Cloud's back with her free hand and tried to coo words of encouragement for him. She was going to try _something_ each time he had a headache until she found something that helped even a little.

"What the _hell_ is goin' on over there?" Cid demanded.

Cloud's headache finally disappeared and he sighed.

"Cloud's back," Tifa said.

"And you fuckin' called me while ya'll were celebrating?" Cid yelled from the other end.

"No!" Tifa exclaimed, mortified. How could he think _that_ was a sign of sex? What did he and Shera _do_ to each other? "His headaches are much worse. We want to go to the Forgotten Capital, is the airship fixed?"

"Almost! Should have her up and runnin' tomorrow. Can ya make it 'til then?"

Tifa exhaled and regarded Cloud meekly. "I guess we'll have to," she replied.

Cloud looked at her, puzzled.

"Ya can't rush these things, but I'll try to finish up as fast as I can, darlin."

"Thank you, Cid," Tifa said before hanging up.

"Tomorrow?" Cloud asked.

"Afraid so," she said, her expression showing concern.

Cloud offered a weak smile. There were so many things he wanted to say to her right now, but she was right, he just wanted to enjoy the time he had with her right now. All that other stuff could come later. He took Tifa's hand in his own, prepared to say something, when her phone rang again. Yuffie.

"Hello?" Tifa said when she answered.

"Hey!" the excited ninja said on the other line. "We found something! How are you? Can you come back?"

"You found something? What?"

"Hold on," Yuffie said before Tifa could hear some odd sounds on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Nanaki asked.

"Nanaki? You found something?"

"We think so. Hojo's Reunion Theory was wrong. It's not just _any_ part of Jenova that can call the other cells back together. Only her head can do that."

"…meaning her head is still alive?" Tifa asked, pretty grossed out. How the hell was its _head_ still alive after all it had been through?

"I think so. I think it's time to round everyone up and go to the Northern Crater. How quickly can you get back here?"

"Cid said the airship would be fixed tomorrow," Tifa replied.

"Okay, we can sit tight until then. Can you call Barret to see if he can come?"

"Sure thing, and Nanaki…"

"What is it?"

"Cloud's back," she said as a smile crept across her lips. Cloud squeezed her hand.

"That's… good? Where has he been? Is he alright?"

"His headaches are way worse."

"That's not good," the red beast offered. "Is there anything you can do?"

"Nothing seems to work, but I'm going to keep trying."

"Of course. Well, hopefully we can find Jenova's head and destroy it once and for all this time. The Cetra said that if the head is destroyed, all the remaining cells will die, meaning Cloud could be cured."

"That would be wonderful!" Tifa said excitedly, squeezing Cloud's hand back.

"Okay Tifa, we will see you both tomorrow, here's Yuffie," Nanaki said before more sounds of shuffling.

"Tifa? Cloud's back?"

"Yeah." Tifa had to hold the phone from her ear to keep Yuffie's loud scream of excitement from shattering her ear drum. Cloud winced as if he were about to have one of his headaches.

"Is he with you now? What about…?"

"Yes, he's here now," Tifa said quickly.

"Oh…" Yuffie almost sounded disappointed, but was probably more confused.

Cloud felt another headache coming on and slammed his fist on the counter to show his frustration.

"Yuffie, he's having another headache, I have to let you go. See you tomorrow."

Tifa flipped her phone shut and grabbed Cloud by the shoulders. She was _going_ to find a way to help him, dammit, no matter how many things she had to try. She twisted him to face her even as his face was scrunched tight in pain.

"Cloud! Look at me!" she ordered.

Cloud tried to open his eyes as she commanded but he was in too much agony. The light filtering in through the windows made it all so much worse. Tifa realized she needed to get him out of the light after he could walk again. Unfortunately, he was just going to have to suffer through this one.

When he calmed down he looked at her, as if that would make them stop.

"Come with me," she said, pulling him to his feet and into their bedroom.

He knew Tifa would try anything to help him, but he was a little skeptical that sex would be the answer. Though, he wasn't about to say no. God knows he missed her that way, too.

When they entered the room, Tifa released his hand and walked over to the windows, pulling the blinds closed to reduce the light. Cloud sat obediently on the bed, getting a little excited but not wanting to make any assumptions.

"Lay down and rest," Tifa said, pointing to his side of the bed. "Light makes migraines worse, so you're going to need to stay where it's darker."

"Oh," Cloud said, disappointed. Yeah, that made more sense.

Tifa snapped her head back to him.

"You okay?"

Cloud tried to hide his guilty looking face and shook his head. "Heh, sorry, really had the wrong impression for a second."

Tifa cocked her head to the side and stared at him for a moment, running through her actions. Oh! Yeah, she could see how he might have thought that.

"Hey!" she said, letting herself smile. At least he seemed to have a little of his old self back.

"Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm glad you're feeling better," she said. "You stay here and relax, I'm going to go get a few things downstairs to try and help."

Cloud nodded and laid down on the bed. He wasn't tired, but there was so little he could do these days due to the constant headaches. Tifa was just a few feet out of the room when another caught him.

Downstairs, Tifa grabbed some potions, hi-potions, equipped her Restore materia, and found an ice pack in the freezer. She could hear Cloud suffering upstairs so she took the steps two-by-two. He was still grabbing his head when she dashed around his side of the bed and cast a cure spell on him. The headache stopped, but she couldn't be sure if it was the materia or just time.

"I think that helped," Cloud said.

"Really? It didn't just go away on its own?"

"Maybe, but it felt like it happened when you cast cure."

"Maybe…" Tifa said, bringing her hands up to clasp them in front of her chest. "We can try it again next time."

"Tifa, seriously," Cloud said, sitting up and patting the bed next to him. He wanted to do as she said and just enjoy her company, but this was eating away at him. He couldn't let her sit there thinking he had abandoned her. "I want to tell you how sorry I am for leaving." Tifa shook her head to try and stop him. "I thought guilt was doing this to me… I shouldn't have left you."

"What happened to you?" she asked.

She'd rather not have him apologize right now, because then she'd feel she had to apologize, and she didn't want to tell him what she had done just yet. She needed the right time and she needed to figure out how she was going to say it – and she really didn't want the conversation to happen in between his headaches.

Cloud shifted uncomfortably where he sat. He took a deep breath and gazed into Tifa's beautiful eyes.

**End notes: I said in the beginning this was also a CloudxTifa fic and that it would be different from other RenoxTifa fics.**


	32. Cloud's Journey Part 1

**A/N: Rated M for language. Some scenes adapted from the original game and Advent Children.**

Chapter 32:

_On that day, two months ago…_

Cloud leaned against the door outside Seventh Heaven after he said goodbye to Tifa. He closed his eyes and rested the back of his head on the wood, turning his jaw upward as if praying to the heavens.

More than fighting Sephiroth, more than burying Aeris, more than watching his hometown burn to the ground – leaving Tifa was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He had struggled from the beginning to get over the guilt he felt over Zack and Aeris' deaths and the fear that Tifa would suffer the same fate if she relied on him. He told Zack he would live both their lives, but he wasn't even living one full life anymore.

When he told her back on the Highwind that starting over would be possible for him this time because he would be with her, he hadn't actually thought they would survive the night. The Lifestream had just absorbed Meteor and Holy, but no one knew what exactly would happen next, even as the Lifestream began to retract back into the planet. Cloud certainly couldn't say from where he stood whether everything on the ground would be alright. He had thought that, if they died, he could make Tifa happy before the end and know for himself what it felt like to be loved before he died.

After everyone survived, he found life with her exhilarating. Every day brought something new, and with her by his side he felt complete, but he could never get rid of that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him it was just a matter of time until she was taken from him, too. He had broken his promise to her multiple times already. Luckily, she hadn't died yet, but how much longer could they tempt fate?

For nearly two years he was able to drown out that ever-present fear and enjoy life with Tifa. When the headaches first started, he thought he could live with them. He knew they weren't merely headaches or even migraines. He recognized them immediately as the same flashes from when Sephiroth was controlling him. He knew that if they were hitting him again, there was no cure, as they had defeated Sephiroth and Jenova. If he was having the same headaches now, something else was wrong and there was no cure; it was just part of him.

Around the time the headaches returned, he started having a new nightmare: Sephiroth was able to control him again, and he would awake to find himself and the bed covered in blood. He'd check himself and find no injuries, so he'd look around the room for Tifa. There would be a pool of blood on her side of the bed, and a crimson trail leading out into the hallway. He'd start to hear a feminine voice calling his name softly. He could never tell whether it was Aeris or Tifa. When he'd step out of the bedroom he would find himself back at the Forgotten Capital, at the bottom of the walkway leading up to the platform where Aeris died.

He'd see the clear water beneath him moving gently and know that he needed to cross to the platform, but he couldn't see what was there. He'd hop from pillar to pillar until he reached the stony surface. He'd then look up and see not Aeris, but Tifa kneeling in front of him, her warm smile and tender brown eyes looking up at him to tell him everything in the world would be okay. Cloud would smile back at her for a moment before his smile would fade. He'd suddenly reach for his sword, knowing that he needed to stop but somehow continuing. He'd raise the sword above his head, screaming to himself to stop, that this was wrong, that this couldn't be real. And unlike the time he fought back Sephiroth's control to keep from killing Aeris, this time he would actually bring his sword down on Tifa's head. Everything would turn red. He'd see Tifa lying on the floor, covered in blood. His hands would be stained and dripping, and he'd wake up terrified that it had all been real.

He would immediately look to her side of the bed to make sure she was there, and he'd place a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was still warm, and he could feel her body softly rising and falling with each breath. He'd lean over and kiss her cheek or brush her hair back to kiss her neck. Then he'd curl up against her and hold her close for the rest of the night, whether he fell back asleep or not.

He never told her about these particular dreams. As the headaches got worse and more frequent, so did the dreams. He started to fear that not only was she in danger because bad things happened to the people Cloud loved, but that he himself was a danger to her.

He finally decided he needed to leave when the headaches began happening multiple times a day. If Sephiroth and Jenova were gone, and the headaches were getting worse, surely he was dying and incapable of protecting Tifa. He needed to leave – to save her. If she depended on him he would let her down in any number of ways, whether it be failing to protect her, or hurting her himself, or forcing her to watch him die. He couldn't do it.

If the headaches weren't caused by Sephiroth or Jenova, then it was something in his psyche that he needed to fix, and he didn't know how to do that. If anyone could save him, it was Aeris. He thought he just needed to go somewhere where Aeris' presence still lingered.

He said goodbye to Tifa because he thought it would be better if he were gone and she learned to live without him. He figured being away but knowing she was alive and happy was better than being selfish by making her suffer through his last few months on the planet. He couldn't do that to her. He'd rather she hate him than suffer any more through his weakness.

He pushed off the door and quickly walked down the steps to where he had parked his motorbike on the street. He planned to go to Aeris' church in Sector 5 of Old Midgar, just hoping for a miracle. Maybe he really did need Aeris to forgive him somehow for all of the pain and guilt to go away. If he could get that from the church, he could be home with Tifa tomorrow and figure out a way to apologize for making him think he was leaving when he was just taking a quick trip to the old city. He straddled his bike and took one last look at Seventh Heaven. From the street he couldn't see Tifa still sitting at that table, her head buried in her arms on the table, sobbing so violently her whole body was shaking.

He turned on the engine and adjusted his goggles, taking a deep breath before speeding away toward Old Midgar, praying a headache wouldn't strike while he was on his bike. Luck was not on his side, though he didn't crash as he had originally thought. He was able to sense the headache coming and pulled over before it really caught him. He knew riding that bike was going to be a risk going forward, but it was the fastest way to travel.

He reached the church less than an hour later and parked his bike out front. As he approached the front door, a couple vices came up behind him to try and steal some of his items, but with a swift slice of his sword, they were dropped. He pushed the doors open and looked around for any other creatures. They had never encountered monsters inside, but it had been nearly two years since Midgar fell. Who knew what could have turned up since then?

Cloud traipsed up the center aisle of the church, taking notice of how the interior looked exactly as it had three years ago when he fell through the roof and formally met Aeris. His footsteps were heavy as his eyes examined the pews, a few of which were intact while most had at least some damage or had been moved. A few were turned over and resting on each other. A couple were broken beyond a simple repair. He never knew what had happened inside this church that Aeris cared for, and at that moment he realized he had never once asked her.

In front of the pews, where the altar would have been, there was still a large hole in the floorboards where beautiful white and yellow flowers grew. It was the only part of the church Aeris tended to, and so it was the only part of the church still flourishing. Against the far walls on either side of the flower patch were broken boxes, barrels, and various other debris, including a heavily damaged organ.

Cloud passed the broken or damaged columns that were apparently just for aesthetic and the stained-glass windows that only allowed in a delicate moonlit glow rather than a streaming light source. The hole in the roof he had caused, however, let in a bright pillar of light that seemed destined to highlight the flowers and allow them to grow even in Aeris' absence, and even though it was the wee hours of the morning. The flowers looked as vibrant as they had when Cloud had landed on them all those years ago.

He stopped at the edge of the broken floorboards and looked down as the flowers moved gently by the breeze from his gait. The yellow and white lilies seemed to laugh at him as he squatted in front of him, knowing full well that _this_ human didn't know the first thing about taking care of them. Cloud let their heavenly scent fill his nostrils as he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and letting the possibility of redemption wash over him.

When he opened his eyes, he could have _sworn_ he saw Aeris on the other side of the flower patch, looking as beautiful and innocent as the day he first met her. She was also crouched down over the flowers, doing whatever it was that she did to make them grow so lively. Cloud blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things – and she was gone.

As soon as he realized he _had_ been seeing things he grasped his head as another headache started. He fell onto his side as pain gripped his head and he cried out in unintelligible words. When it was over, he sat up and stared at the flowers. How did he still get a headache in here? He couldn't explain why he thought he _wouldn't_ have any pain in this church, but now that he had, he wondered how it could happen. It had also been only an hour since his last one; he hoped they wouldn't continue on this schedule. He could barely handle a few a day, how could he live with one every hour?

"Aeris, help," he said weakly to the flowers, as if they could relay the message for him.

He heard nothing back. He also felt no peace. Maybe he needed to _see_ her again, as he had when he opened his eyes earlier. Maybe she really was here – at least sometimes – and that's why the flowers still bloomed.

He rolled out a sleeping back and made himself at home on the wooden floor near the flowers. Maybe if he stayed here long enough, she would come back, and he could ask her directly what he needed to do to save himself.

He stared at the flowers for a while before eventually falling into a fitful sleep. His nightmare this night did not involve him killing Tifa but replayed the day that Aeris died in excruciating detail as Cloud could do nothing but watch. He tried to save her, but his movements were slow, and no sound came when he tried to speak. He tried with all his might to get to her, but failed. Again.

When he finally woke he found himself bathed in the excess light from the roof, which warmed his skin and made him feel like maybe he would be okay. He heard a sound at the front door of the church and snapped his head to look. Zack was there, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed and his head bowed with that simple, understanding-yet-cocky grin he wore sometimes.

"Zack?" Cloud asked.

His best friend turned his head to look at him, his Mako-infused blue eyes brightening before he altogether disappeared in an instant.

"Wait!" Cloud reached out a hand toward his friend and remained sitting with his arm raised for a moment before retreating as he realized Zack wasn't coming back. Could they not see him? Were they ignoring him? Was he simply just seeing things as a result of the headaches?

It was aggravating to watch Zack vanish without getting to ask for their help. Maybe they both hated him for his failure to help him. Maybe this whole "forgiveness" thing would take longer than he thought – or not be possible at all.

He at first thought he would leave soon after arriving to the church and finding nothing, but since he had seen the two apparitions he resolved to stay and try to talk to them. He'd leave the church occasionally for supplies but made sure to wander into parts of Edge he knew Tifa wouldn't be. She couldn't see him like this, and he couldn't let her think he had just moved down the street – that would be torture, for both of them. He also made sure to steer clear of the new Shinra building. Those Turks had been coming to Tifa's bar and he couldn't risk _them_ seeing him either.

He tried talking to the flowers, to Aeris, throughout the days, thinking that if he told her what was on his mind and how sorry he was that she would at least appear before him to scold him or tell him to fuck off.

"Aeris, I'm sorry I failed you as a bodyguard," he told her. "I messed up everything and now you're dead and I don't know what to do. I need to know what to do so you'll forgive me…"

Nothing.

He took a deep breath and sat back on his haunches, closing his eyes and turning his face toward the light.

_Flashback…_

"You okay?" a sweet, lilted voice asked him even though all he saw was black.

He opened his eyes and immediately squinted as bright light burned his eyelids. Was he dying? All he saw was white light. He'd heard about this. When you die, you see a bright light and you walk toward it. The last thing he remembered was Tifa reaching for him and screaming his name. And… fire. Oh god, the reactor! The reactor exploded and Tifa and Barret were still there!

"This is a church in the Sector 5 slums," the gentle voice spoke up again, adding an edgy little chuckle. "It suddenly fell on top of me. It really gave me a scare."

Cloud sat up a little, realizing he was not dying, but had landed in what appeared to be a dilapidated church. A beautiful young woman crouched beside him wearing a dainty pink sundress and burgundy jacket. Her light brown hair was tied in a high ponytail with a pink ribbon and braided in the back, with thick sections of bangs framing her face and curling down to her neck. Bright green eyes stared at him with an underlying inquisitiveness. He suddenly felt… safe.

"… I came crashing down?" he asked the woman beside him. She laughed gently and nodded.

"The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall. You're lucky," she said.

"Flower bed… is this yours?" Cloud asked, leaping to his feet and feeling guilty. "Sorry about that."

The woman stood up and dusted off her dress. "That's all right," she said. "The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place. They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar, but for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here."

She paused for a moment and looked up into the light, which illuminated her features. She then looked back at Cloud and smiled warmly, in almost the same way Tifa did.

"I love it here," she said. She then studied his face for a moment and looked a little confused before again smiling. "So, we meet again."

Cloud was a little shocked but stared back at her a moment as a memory clicked. "Yeah, I remember you…" he said. "you were selling flowers."

"Oh! I'm so happy!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "Thanks for buying my flowers."

Cloud scratched the back of his head. He had given the flower to Tifa. It might still be in a vase at Seventh Heaven.

"Say, do you have any materia?" she asked suddenly. Cloud nodded.

"Yes, some," he said. "Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."

"But mine is special. It's good for absolutely nothing," she said with a chuckle. Cloud looked at her, confused.

"… good for nothing? You probably just don't know how to use it," he said, a little too smugly.

"No, I do," the woman said without any hint of indignation. "it just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's…"

She looked down at the flowers for a moment before looking back at Cloud again. She couldn't quite get over this feeling that she hadn't just seen him a few days ago when he bought her flower. He definitely looked like another boy she knew. Maybe they were brothers?

"Say, I feel like talking. Do you feel up to it?" she asked. "After all, here we are meeting again, right?"

"I don't mind."

"Wait here. I've got to check my flowers. It'll just be a minute." she then crouched down next to the flower bed and appeared to do… something with the flowers. Cloud had no idea how to take care of, well, anything it seemed, so he didn't know what she was doing or how it would help the blooms. After a few minutes the woman stood up and dusted off her dress.

"Just a little longer. Oh! Now that you mention it… we don't know each other's names, do we? My name is Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."

Cloud could see out of the corner of his eye a lanky man in a dark-blue suit with fiery red hair enter the building. A few Shinra troops walked in behind them. They appeared to be talking amongst themselves.

"The name's Cloud," he told Aeris, ignoring the men who had just entered. "Me? I do a little bit of everything."

"Oh, a jack of all trades," Aeris said, chuckling again.

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed. What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"

"Sorry… I just," she stammered, noticing the redhead for the first time. "Sorry, bad timing on my part. Cloud! Don't let it get to you!"

The blonde shrugged. What the hell was this girl talking about?

"Don't worry about me," the redhead said from the front of the church.

"Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You _do_ do everything, right?" Aeris asked. Cloud looked at her skeptically.

"… Yeah, that's right."

"Then get me out of here. Take me home."

"Ok, I'll do it… but it'll cost you." No woman he just met was worth doing anything for free. Maybe if Tifa asked him to do something just for her he might let the payment slide, but he was helping her fight Shinra with AVALANCHE and they had to pay.

"Well then, let's see… How about if I go out with you once?" Aeris asked.

Cloud wanted to object – his heart belonged to Tifa – but he recognized the man at the entrance to the church as one of Shinra's Turks. When they showed up, people died, and though Cloud may not be the most caring person these days, he didn't see any reason why this lovely, flower-loving woman should be killed for lack of payment.

_End flashback…_

He got her away from Shinra that day, but shortly after she was kidnapped and taken to Shinra HQ. He saved her, and did a mildly decent job of protecting her _and_ Tifa up until the Temple of Ancients, when he hurt Aeris and gave the black materia to Sephiroth. Then she ran away in the middle of the night and he couldn't save her from Sephiroth's sword. He was a terrible bodyguard. And _then_ he got Mako poisoning and failed to save Tifa when she was nearly executed on live TV. He was… a failure, just like Hojo said.

"Aeris, please!" he shouted at the light in the roof. "Help me to be better! I need to know how to protect… the ones I love."

Still nothing.

For two weeks he slept in the church, talking to the flowers, trying to get Aeris or Zack to reappear. They never did, and he decided that they must not have ever appeared at all. It was probably just wishful thinking or a result of the headaches, which were now occurring every few hours. At the end of the two weeks he decided they weren't coming back and he needed to get to the Forgotten Capital.

He gathered his things and left the church. A few minutes after the roar of his bike's engine could no longer be heard in the area, Tifa arrived. She had tried to let Cloud go and accept that he had left her for Aeris – or "forgiveness," whatever that meant – but she couldn't stop crying every night and at various times during the day. She held it together during work, but now she had broken down and made the journey to Aeris' old church to see if maybe he was there. She knew he was probably at the Forgotten Capital… but she had to try.

She walked the same path he had up the center aisle, looking around at the broken pews and columns. She reached the flower bed and knelt down beside it, breathing in the scent of the lilies and thinking about her deceased friend. She could never hate Aeris for taking Cloud's attention. Even Tifa was amazed by how much Aeris loved life. She was always so cheery, never nervous around Cloud, and always knew the right thing to say to make everyone laugh. Tifa was jealous of her for that as well. She was always trying to think of what to say, and Aeris would just go ahead and say it. She always seemed to have Cloud's attention, too. Tifa wanted more than anything to be there for him, but she was always too afraid of saying something stupid.

She reached out her hand to feel the soft petals of one of the lilies, amazed that the flowers were doing this well after two years of neglect. Something in this building was caring for them. Maybe it was just Aeris' presence.

Tifa looked around and for a second she thought she saw Aeris sauntering toward her from the back of the church, a gentle smile on her face. She was gone as soon as Tifa blinked, and the bartender shook her head with her eyes closed to make sure she wasn't crazy.

There was no sign of Cloud – or that he had been here at all. She figured it made sense. Cloud was probably at the Forgotten Capital right now. Tifa turned to walk back to the front doors of the church, twisting back at the entrance to look at the flowers one more time. With a heavy sigh, she left, tears already welling up in the corners of her eyes.

_Meanwhile…_

Cloud was speeding away from Midgar and heading for the highway that crossed the ocean to the northern continent. He would be at the Bone Village within a few hours. As he approached the coast, the alarm on his watch started beeping and he knew it was time to pull over. He had started calculating the time between his headaches while he was staying in Aeris' church and began setting his watch to test his timing before getting on his bike. Whenever his watch beeped, he would pull over and wait for the headache to come. When it was over, he'd set his watch again and continue driving.

As he travelled, he took notice of what seemed to be an increase of fiends in the world, but he dismissed the thought and assumed it just seemed that way because his bike was so fast. The distance between fiends was just shorter, apparently. His curiosity was peeked, however, as he was crossing the highway over the ocean. He had to dodge several monsters traveling the same direction as him. On the other side of the bridge there were also monsters going north as well, yet no monsters were traveling south.

While the road was clear, his thoughts returned to Tifa, as they always did whenever he was not having to defend himself, or talk to Aeris, or clutch his head in pain. He wondered what she had been doing the past two weeks and if she was moving on. While part of him didn't want her to, for sure, another part of him hoped she would forget him soon. She wanted a family – wanted _him_ to be her family – and he couldn't give that to her. He couldn't make her dreams a reality. Not only was he likely sterile from the Shinra experiments, but he couldn't guarantee her safety let alone the safety of a child.

His watched beeped again and he pulled over on the side of the bridge. He watched as a herd of levrikons ran past him on the road. Odd, there were no levrikons on the northern continent. Where were they going?

Once they had passed, he took out his phone and, as he so often did, checked to see if Tifa had called. He hoped she would, just so he could hear her voice. He knew she probably wouldn't. He'd hurt her too badly this time. He wasn't merely missing like when he traveled through the Lifestream and ended up in Mideel. He had _left_ her, and no matter how much he wanted to return to her, he couldn't. Not until he was cured, which he of course didn't think would happen.

No messages – from anyone. He sighed, leaning against the railing of the bridge and clicking through his phone. He ran an Internet search on her name – just to see if the tabloids were saying anything about her. Some awful reporter had done an article about Cloud leaving her and breaking her heart, including pictures taken at separate times; one of which showed Cloud leaving the bar and the other showed Tifa looking down and appearing sad. He closed his phone for a moment and exhaled. He hoped Tifa hadn't seen the article. She wasn't one to read that trash, but she might not be able to escape it at the general store.

He opened his phone again, this time to scroll through the pictures he had of her. They were so happy. Even though he was always worried something would happen to her, he couldn't help but smile when he was around her. She was so warm and caring, she would make him forget his problems without even having to say anything.

He knew he needed to let her go, but it was just too damn hard. He didn't know how to explain what he had done but staying away from her was just not working. He opened up his contacts and scrolled to her name, pausing and telling himself not to call. He had to let her go, had to let her move on and forget him. Calling her would just make it that much worse. But he was weak. He rubbed his thumb over her name in his contacts list, hoping _she_ would call at that moment.

She didn't. He knew she was too strong for that.

Before he even realized what was happening, he was thrown back against the railing, bending backward enough to see the sky above him – and realized he was no longer holding his phone. It was flying in the air over his face, heading out to the ocean. Before even checking to see what had hit him he was twisting and reaching out to grab the device. It was just out of his reach, and he watched in horror as it flipped and rotated down into the ocean below, a small splash marking the end of its life.

Cloud leaned helplessly over the railing. There was no place to replace his PHS in Bone Village or the Forgotten Capital, and he couldn't just drive all the way back to Edge. Now he would have to go on with nothing but his memories and hope that she didn't try to call. He didn't want her thinking he left her to go live his life elsewhere – with someone else – even though that was preferable to having her watch him die. If she called and his number no longer worked, what would she think? He prayed at that moment that he would find what he needed at the Forgotten Capital quickly so he could return to her.

It was then he realized something was attacking him from behind and turned around to see a Kalm fang standing on its hind legs, slashing him with its front claws and snapping its teeth at him. He kicked the beast away from him – using a move Tifa had taught him – and withdrew his sword to slice it clean in half. A few other wolves had been hanging back and growling at him – probably the betas of the pack. With the alpha dead, Cloud made quick work of the others and returned to his bike.

The sooner he got to the Forgotten Capital, the better.

_Later_…

He arrived at the ancient city the next day after passing through Bone Village and being forced to chat with some of the diggers, who wanted to thank him for saving the planet. He took their praise in stride and offered simple platitudes in response so he could get away. What good was saving the planet if he couldn't save himself or care for the people he loved?

He rode through the Sleeping Forest, feeling even more melancholy as the grey-green glow of the forest enveloped him. When his phone beeped again he pulled over and leaned against a tree, waiting for the headache. After 10 minutes he checked his watch again. That's odd. He should have had one by now. If anything, they had been getting worse, so he should have been waiting _less_ time for one to occur. He gave it another few minutes and set his watch again – just in case – before returning to his bike and continuing on to the ancient city.

It looked just as it had two years ago when they all gathered after Meteor to thank Aeris. The shellstone paths still led to the left, right, and center. While he was on his bike he had been able to avoid the monsters in the forest, even though it really did seem like there were more than there had been previously. He also noticed some creatures from the eastern continent. Were they migrating for some reason?

As he stood at the fork in the road he watched as a line of fiends took the right path beyond the shell houses and out of the city toward the mountains that led to Icicle Inn. Cloud took a battle position, but none seemed to bother him. It was as if they had a set path. He looked to the left and saw that it was empty. Odd.

He turned toward the center path and started toward the lake where he had buried her years ago. He eased through the tunnel leading to the lake; if he were attacked in there he would surely struggle in such a tight space. Thankfully, there were still no monsters elsewhere in the city except for that one path, so he arrived at Aeris' lake soon after entering the tunnel. The area was still cast in dark blue as the white trees gave off a soft glow. It was somehow both dark and light in this place at the same time, with a light beam similar to the one in the church shining down from the sky above.

"I'm here," Cloud said as he approached the lake.

He didn't feel any different.

He sat down at the edge of the water with his knees bent in the air and his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped in front. He closed his eyes and lifted his face up to the sky as he had done in the church, thinking that when he opened his eyes, he might see her. He took a deep breath and lowered his gaze, opening his eyes and looking across the lake.

Nothing.

Could she really be this angry with him? He wouldn't blame her. He'd hate himself even more than he already did if he were her. She had entrusted him to protect her and he failed. That was unforgivable.

"Aeris?" he asked after a long pause. Still nothing.

He sat at the edge of the lake until his watch beeped again. Another 10 minutes passed and he still hadn't experienced a headache. Maybe they were a temporary condition? If so, he just threw his life with Tifa away for nothing.

Nope, there it was. He brought his hands to his head as the headache finally came. He saw images of Jenova's horrific face flash before his eyes until the pain subsided. When he felt better, he calculated the time since the last attack and set his watch appropriately.

He decided to leave the lake for a while and wander down into the ancient city – to the place where it all happened. He plodded down the glass staircase, taking note of how the structures down below also looked exactly as they had years ago. He made his way down to the water and looked into it, seeing his reflection in the shimmering surface. He touched his cheek as his reflection distorted in the movement of the water, noting how alone the water assured him he was.

He looked up to the platform where Aeris had been killed and made his way to it. He sat on the opposite side from where she had rested while they fought Jenova after Sephiroth killed her, leaning back against the railing with one knee propped up in the air and his arm hanging off of it. He stared at the other side of the platform, remembering how Aeris looked right after her death, still with that peaceful smile.

He felt heavier here, if anything. Not better, not healthier, just, heavier. From his heart to his presence. He felt crushed. He still hadn't gotten any sense that Aeris was listening, even though his headaches did seem to be happening less frequently. Maybe Aeris had forgiven him and it was just taking time for the headaches to go away. He'd stay here until he was cured – or dead.

"Aeris, please, I'm so sorry," he said in the direction of where she had sat on the platform, imagining her sitting there in his head. "I tried. I promised you, but I failed. I told you I would protect you. But I couldn't save you."

Nothing.

He lowered his head and dropped his shoulders. What more could he do?

Cloud awoke when his watch alarm went off, not realizing he had nodded off. He mentally prepared for the pain again, but it didn't come. _Something_ was going on down here and making him better.

He stood up to return to the lake, thinking that was probably a better place to seek forgiveness than where his ultimate failure had taken place. Cloud ascended the glass staircase, left the shell house, and walked to the water, looking out to the center of the pond where he had waded years ago to release her body to the planet.

_Two weeks later…_

"Hello?"

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice, so sweet, so distant, and so impossible. He whipped around and suddenly, finding himself alone at the lake. He couldn't have just heard her…

"Aeris?"

"Mmhmm. You came, even though you're about to break," she said.

While Cloud couldn't see her, he _felt_ her presence as if she were standing right next to him.

"That's a good sign," she continued. "So, why did you come?"

Had she not been listening to him for the past month? No matter, she was listening now.

"I think… I want to be forgiven," he said. "Hm. More than anything."

"By who?" Aeris asked, seeming genuinely unsure.

Cloud shook his head. Did she really not know? Or was she messing with him like she always had?

"By… you," he said, looking at the ground sullenly.

"Hmm. Isn't it time you did the forgiving?"

"What do you mean?"

Aeris chuckled sweetly. "You know, I never blamed you. Not once. You came for me. That's all that matters."

"Aeris?" Cloud asked, suddenly no longer feeling her presence. He looked around, almost desperately, for some sign that she had been there or was still there. It had been nearly a month since he left Tifa. His headaches were down to no more than two a day, and now he had heard from Aeris herself that she never blamed him for what happened.

Maybe… he could go home. Now that he had spoken to Aeris, his headaches should go away, right?

**End notes: I know emo, introspective Cloud is a cliché but he was always meant to love Tifa, even if he **_**still**_** doesn't understand the saying about actions speaking louder than words. I wrote most of this chapter on a day that is particularly emotional for me, so I think a lot of my grief was worked in.**


	33. Cloud's Journey Part 2

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

**Apologies for the delay.**

Chapter 33:

Cloud's headaches had subsided to the point where he thought he could live with them if it meant going home to Tifa. He had stayed at the Forgotten Capital a few more days to see if they would go away completely, but after speaking with Aeris they remained, albeit rare. He packed up this belongings and cleaned up the area around Aeris' lake to make sure it was exactly how he found it.

With one last look back and a silent prayer, he left the lake and headed back down the narrow tunnel toward the entrance to the Forgotten Capital to where he parked his bike just outside the Sleeping Forest. As he approached the fork in the road leading to the forest, he noticed the number of monsters traveling along the path that led to the mountains and the Northern Crater had increased exponentially. No longer a single-file line, it now appeared as though a massive migration was taking place, with fiends from all over the world traveling north.

Cloud noticed a few trickplays and boundfats messing with his bike. The trickplays were climbing on the seat and handlebars while the boundfats seemed to be fiddling with the tires and storage containers. Cloud drew his sword and ran toward the monsters. He easily sliced the trickplays in half, but the boundfats jumped on him, sniggering as they clawed at his legs and face. He stumbled backward, struggling to keep his balance as he tried to shake the creatures from him. He managed to kick away one of the beasts and slash it with his sword. He dropped his weapon to pull the boundfat off his face, leaving deep scratches on his cheeks.

He threw the creature to the ground and cut its head off in an instant before prying another one off his other leg. The last one bounced a few feet away, and Cloud was upon it in a flash, slicing it across its middle.

He returned to his bike to survey the damage. The trickplays had ripped the leather seat open and pulled out much of the cushioning. He crouched down to see if the tires or any other part of the bike were damaged. Everything appeared to be fitting tight and working properly, so he hopped on the damaged seat and sped off into the forest.

The forest was almost full of monsters, and Cloud found it difficult to maneuver around them on his bike. Once he found an opening, he accelerated, concentrating on avoiding trees as fiends leapt out of his way. With his eyes on the distant light of the opening at the end of the forest, Cloud suddenly saw the ground rushing toward his face. He reached his hands out in front of him to break his fall and roll to lessen the impact. He succeeded in this but didn't count on the back of the bike rearing up into the air and flipping over him. He quickly found himself crushed beneath the weight of the massive motorbike. The vehicle had spun sideways in the air before landing on him, and the back wheel was now stuck spinning wildly, the rubber tearing the skin on Cloud's back to shreds.

He cried out in pain as he felt the flesh torn from his spine, grasping desperately at the ground to try and pull himself out from under the bike. As he struggled, the source of his current predicament showed itself and he felt the massive claws of a grand horn lift him into the air and throw him against a nearby tree. With his back in tatters, Cloud felt the bark of the tree with a pain he never thought imaginable, as though his _insides_ had collided with the oak. Without being able to see, he knew he had left a significant amount of blood behind on the trunk – and brought some bits of bark with him as he fell to the ground.

The grand horn swiped its mighty arm to fling Cloud's bike into a tree, the twisted and broken metal smashing against a large trunk and falling to the ground. Cloud could smell gas and smoke as he reached into his pocket for a potion. He uncorked the bottle and drank it quickly, feeling his skin heal itself and his strength return.

He staggered to his feet and gripped his sword. He ran toward the grand horn slashing wildly, quickly cutting off the beast's dominant arm and one of its horns. The creature howled and lashed out with its remaining arm. It lowered its head and charged Cloud in an attempt to impale him, but the blond warrior countered with an uppercut that signaled the creature's demise.

Cloud rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath, still weakened by the bike and the fiend. Before he could stand up fully, he was thrown through the air by an explosion, knocking his head against a tree. Getting home was going to be a serious struggle if the entire trip was this full of monsters.

The blow to his skull caused a pretty intense headache – a combination of the pain from the injury and the migraines that had been plaguing him for months. The union caused him to pass out until a pack of Nibel wolves came sniffing around. Cloud opened his eyes to see a snout just inches from his face, a nose blowing hot, rancid air into his own nostrils. The beast then bared its teeth at Cloud and began to growl before snapping at him. Cloud rolled to his other side to avoid a bite to the face and leapt to his feet in order to begin attacking the creatures. As he cut one down, several more would lunge at him – scratching his body and chomping on his arms. Just as with the boundfats, the blond would shake off a wolf and kill it while others would attack.

Cloud soon found himself back on the ground under a pile of wolves. With no help and in his weakened condition, he grabbed one of the few materia orbs he kept from Yuffie and concentrated. The wolves' ears perked up at the shrill screech of the spell and they were soon consumed by a bright green ball of fire. The wolves fell to their deaths and Cloud pushed himself up onto his arms to catch his breath. He took another potion and stumbled through the forest. Bone village was just a few hours away; he could restock there.

Bone Village was a few hours away without having to fight fiends nonstop. Cloud, however, was no sooner back on his feet when a griffin swooped in for an attack. The swordsmen groaned and swung his sword, wishing more than ever that Tifa were here.

He wasn't used to fighting alone. He only had a few materia on him, thinking he'd only need them for a rare emergency. His potion supplies were low, and he now worried he wouldn't have enough to get to Bone Village at this rate.

Usually Tifa had been with him through battle, and he realized just how much he _needed_ her even though he was a competent fighter. She would always be by his side with a cure spell or potion, and she carried more practical magic materia to assist him in battle. Cloud only had with him Full Cure, Ultima, and Knights of the Round – he really thought he'd only need them under dire circumstances – and was already running low on potions. He only brought a few ethers, so he was trying to use magic sparingly.

The griffin reared back with the help of its wings and lurched forward to peck at Cloud. He dodged and rolled to the side, swiping his sword low to the ground to kneecap the fiend. With a wail the beast crumbled to the ground to die of shock. Cloud had little time to gloat as a group of cactuars descended upon him. They chirped and sniggered as they shot thousands of needles at him, quickly turning him into a pin cushion. Cloud held up his arms to protect his face, and the creatures ran as soon as he took one swing at them.

He didn't know how much longer he could go on like this. He was still hours from Bone Village, and he desperately needed to use the Full Cure to get back on his feet. With renewed strength, he figured he could avoid using one of his precious few ethers for a while.

He wouldn't arrive at Bone Village until the next day, fighting monsters from around the world non-stop. By the time he saw the familiar skull of an ancient creature, he was out of ethers and potions, and was struggling to stand. Each step was already agonizing, and he welcomed the chance to purchase more supplies. He hadn't brought much gil with him, but he had enough to buy the needed supplies to hopefully last him until he returned to Tifa.

He leaned against the skull for balance and looked around. For the first time he realized the dig site was crawling with monsters heading toward the forest. He groaned between labored breaths. The place was deserted. He wouldn't make it home like this if he couldn't stock up, but there was clearly no one around to sell him anything.

With great effort, he made his way through the beasts hanging around the site and picked up a few items that had been dug up as the creatures walked through. He reached the rib cage where the item seller usually sat and found that in his rush, the man left behind a nice stash. Cloud pocketed a dozen ethers and hi-potions and had been lucky enough to find a turbo ether and an elixir shining on the surface of the ground in some monster tracks. With his supplies replenished, he opted to crawl into the small living area vacated by the dig site, propping up a nearby rib to deter monsters from snooping.

He was awoken in the middle of the night by one of his headaches. He had been in the middle of his recurring nightmare, at the point just before he brought his sword down on Tifa, when the headache hit. Though he was in excruciating pain, he actually welcomed the headache to take him out of the nightmare.

He woke up hours later surprisingly refreshed and ready to make the trek back to Edge. With his bike destroyed, he'd have to walk the entire distance back to the city. Even with the items he picked up in Bone Village, if he were to face constant monster attacks the whole way home, he didn't know how long it would be before he could hold Tifa in his arms again and tell her how sorry he was.

A thought suddenly shot into his brain. If the fiends were this bad up _here_, what was Tifa going through down in Edge? Was she hurt? He looked around his temporary shelter for any sort of communication device but found nothing. He could only pray that his absence hadn't meant physical danger to her. He'd _never_ be able to forgive himself if he went looking for forgiveness from Aeris only for Tifa to be taken from him.

He paused from inside the ribcage to take note of the creatures passing by outside. He waited for a break in their numbers, but none came. He gathered what he had left and slowly moved the false rib to the side and emerged from the shelter. Before he could even stand up he his legs were swept out from underneath him by the tail of a gagighandi. Cloud landed sprawled on his back, which caught the creature's attention. It hissed and slashed at him with its webbed feet, dodging Cloud's first swipe of his sword. When he saw the beast staring into him with stony eyes, he quickly lunged forward to drive his sword through its heart.

As had been the norm, he no sooner took a few steps toward the open plains south of Bone Village when he was struck by six consecutive spiked limbs. When he regained his composure, he swung his sword, cutting off half the death claw's talons in one swoop. He then hacked the creature to bits. Cloud dug the nose of his sword into the ground and used the hilt to lean against for a moment to catch his breath.

Time to keep going.

Bone Village had actually helped create a bottleneck for the monsters to pass through as they continued north. Once the landscape opened up, Cloud was trapped in a crowd of creatures fighting each other and trying to push through further on the trail. The light seemed to disappear as he was shoved and trampled by the creatures. He slashed his sword to cut through as many as he could, but they overwhelmed him with their numbers.

With a loud screech and a bright blast of green light, the monsters around Cloud fell. The distraction allowed him to escape the immediate cluster of creatures, and he traveled along the base of the mountain chain heading southwest. It seemed there was no escape from the hordes of beasts roaming this part of the world, and Cloud took shelter in a small cave he had never noticed before on his previous adventure.

He travelled to the back of the cave, about 20 feet from the mouth, and watched as the creatures passed by the entrance without taking notice of him. He had left the Forgotten Capital days ago and had barely covered any ground. He sat on the cave floor to rest. He was still in prime fighting shape, at the top of his game, but even he couldn't handle this much fighting without any breaks in between attacks. He sat in the cave for a while, trying to come up with a plan of action. He had never been the best tactician, but with no one else around to help him, he was going to have to figure out a way to get home alive on his own.

"Tifa, can you hear me?" he asked softly. "Can you see how hard I'm fighting for you?"

He hoped Tifa would somehow understand, even though he now realized he had gone about his quest all wrong. He wished he could go back in time and explain to her exactly what was going on with him. As he left it, he wouldn't be surprised if Tifa never forgave him. God, he was such an idiot!

He pounded his fist against the cave wall, agitated at himself for getting into this predicament. If he had properly explained things to Tifa, she might have gone looking for him after he didn't come home for a while. But no, he had to leave her like he was breaking up with her, meaning she probably wouldn't come looking for him for fear of looking like an obsessed puppy. Or she hated him for what he had done, making her feel like nothing, like he was in love with Aeris and not her.

He hit the cave wall again, a little harder. He couldn't possibly have caused it, but at that very moment, he felt the entire cave shake ominously. Dust fell from the stalactites, and Cloud coughed a little. Another shake. This couldn't be good. He stood up to slowly make his way out of the cave so as not to cause any more damage when the walls shook violently and began to collapse around him. He tried to rush toward the entrance but was struck by a rock on his head, and was soon buried beneath the cave under the mountains.

_Sometime later…_

Cloud wasn't sure at first how long he had been knocked out. Everything around him was dark and there was an intense weight pressing down on his entire body. Every bone in his body felt broken and he wondered how he was alive at all. He concentrated for a moment and soon he could see bright white orbs in the darkness followed by an intense beam of golden light. He felt his body quickly repair itself and he regained the strength to begin maneuvering out from under the pile of rubble that previously had crushed him.

First, he wiggled his arms and legs to try and dislodge what he could. He felt some movement from some of the boulders and continued to shimmy until he heard something fall. The progress was slow going and he considered using an Ultima spell to destroy the rocks, but he feared it might lead to another rockslide. After God only knows how long, he freed his left arm from the rubble, finding a pocket within the debris.

He reached up as far as he could to discover that if he moved too many rocks, more would fall onto him. Of course, just as he realized how much trouble he was in, a headache caught him by surprise. He couldn't grip his head – not that it helped anyway – and had to lie still on his back suffering through it.

He couldn't die in this cave, he just couldn't. When the headache subsided, he again worked on clearing the rock pile on top of him. If he could just get some light, he'd be able to figure out what he needed to do. The Full Cure he cast was too blinding to get a good look at his surroundings. With his left hand, he slowly felt the rocks still on top of him to see whether they were bearing more weight – like some life-threatening game of Jenga – before removing them if he could. He wasn't the most ambidextrous individual, and he wasn't that great at multi-tasking, but when he could remember, he'd try to wiggle his right hand to free it as well.

He had no concept of time within the cave walls, so he had no idea how long it took him to move enough rocks to where he had enough room to shift onto his stomach and turn around. To be honest he couldn't tell which way the entrance to the cave was but had a feeling he had fallen backwards when he was hit on the head, meaning the mouth of the cave was beyond where his feet were when he woke up. He managed to get his head and arms out of the initial pile via the pocket he had created with his left arm. He couldn't stand up or squeeze his whole body through, but he had at least made some progress, though how much, he was unsure.

He tried to breathe as lightly as possible, knowing his oxygen was probably limited. He had to get out of here quickly, or at least find a way to get more air. Now that he had both arms free, he could more easily clear rocks to form a path. He would carefully feel the area in front of him for loose rubble and then gently coax it from its position once he was sure it wouldn't cause another collapse. He'd then pass the rock behind him and work it back toward his feet. If he was heading in the wrong direction he would definitely be trapped here until his death.

It was exhausting and tedious work since he had to limit his breathing as much as possible. Because he could see nothing but inky blackness, he imagined Tifa standing a few feet from him, calling him to her and giving him the encouragement he needed to keep going. Specifically, he imagined Tifa wearing that low-cut blue dress she wore to Don Corneo's mansion. She was just out of his reach in those matching heels, her long legs just begging to be touched. As Cloud pulled another rock from the pile, he imagined reaching Tifa's feet and practically climbing her legs to her waist before standing up to embrace her.

With another rock removed, Tifa crouched down, her knees unfortunately obstructing Cloud's view up her dress. She smiled at him warmly and reached out her hand to help him.

"Come on, Cloud. You can make it," she said to him.

As he reached to grasp her fingers he felt another migraine. This time he was able to bring his hands up to his head in pain as images of Sephiroth and Jenova replaced Tifa in his mind. When he came to, he could swear he heard movement somewhere far away in the rubble.

He continued moving rocks one at a time slowly, making inches of progress in an agonizingly long amount of time. Again, he didn't know how long it took, but he began to feel lightheaded after some time had passed, as his oxygen supply started to run out. Full Cure could heal him, but it couldn't make air appear, so he was stuck. He didn't know how far from the cave entrance or even an air pocket he was, but prayed he was close.

Tifa had disappeared, so weak was his mind from lack of enough oxygen. He had lost track of the number of headaches he had while digging himself out and was getting tired. He had slept several times while digging, though he wasn't sure if it was because night had fallen or because he was exhausted from his excursion.

His head was in an entirely different kind of pain at this point, and he thought he might actually have gone crazy. Sure, imagining Tifa wasn't exactly sane, but now he felt loopy and really was convinced rocks were being moved somewhere in front of him.

The last thing he remembered before passing out again was a rock being lifted away from him. He could see a sudden flash of white and… Zack?

_Later…_

Cloud was still lying on his stomach, his arms draped over a large boulder and his legs still in the tunnel he had dug for himself. When he opened his eyes he could see light coming from the mouth of the cave. It burned his eyes and he had to shield his face, unsure exactly how long it had been since he had seen natural light. Though he now had plenty of air, he felt physically weak from hunger. How long had it been since he had eaten?

He pulled himself on top of the debris and collapsed, sliding a few feet down to ground of the cave. He reached into his pack and pulled out one of his few remaining rations that hadn't been in the motorbike when it was destroyed. Without even sitting up, he ate it quickly and cast Full Cure to regain his strength.

Replenished, he finally left the cave to continue his journey home. He was immediately met with the stench of rotting flesh. He looked around and discovered that the rockslide that had caught him had killed multiple fiends, and by the looks of it, they had been dead for quite a while.

The amount of monsters in the world had only gotten worse since his stint in the cave. When he finally reached the onramp to the highway that connected the northern continent to the eastern, he wondered whether it would be easier to travel along the southeast peninsula and then swim across the shallow part of the ocean to reach the desert around Midgar and Edge. There were monsters packed from railing to railing along the bridge, and the peninsula didn't look much clearer. Maybe swimming across the ocean would be easiest? No, that would be insane. There were fiends in the ocean as well and he would have no way to defend himself in the water without special materia.

It was agonizingly slow going across the highway between the two continents. The monsters were packed in tight, pushing and shoving their way north. Since Cloud was walking the opposite direction, it was nearly impossible to make his way through the crowds. He hacked fiercely with his sword through the thousands upon thousands of creatures heading toward him. At times it seemed he would hack and slash his way only to be pushed _back_ several feet, yet he continued as best he could, the fear that Tifa was struggling alone against all these creatures providing him the motivation to keep moving.

When he tired, he would cast Full Cure or take a potion. He worried about using too much magic on the bridge. If he ran out of ethers, he would become woozy and unable to get away to rest. He had to trudge on, reaching his breaking point before healing so as to conserve supplies. Horns, claws, talons, fangs, and spikes all slashed at him, tearing his flesh and injuring his body. Blood spilled from his injuries and from the damage he did to the fiends, coating him and only serving to entice more monsters hungry for a meal.

He had to keep going, no matter how impossible the task seemed. The sooner he could get back to Tifa, the easier it would be to undo the damage he had done to their relationship by leaving. Day turned into night turned into day again, yet he couldn't let up.

The biggest obstacle came when he would suffer a headache while on the highway. They started occurring closer together the further he was from the Forgotten Capital, and each time he suffered one on the bridge, he'd come to with fresh injuries and a trail of blood that showed he had been dragged back from where he was when the migraine first hit.

His supplies were dwindling by the time he saw the end of the highway, still hours away at this rate. Potions were losing their effect and he was saving the last of his strength for a Hail Mary closer to the end of the bridge. With another clawed hand to the head, he found himself unable to stand. This was it; his last chance. It was too early, but it was necessary. Trapped on his stomach down on the pavement, trampled by hooves, feet, paws, and talons, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

The gray sky was replaced by black for a moment before the first knight appeared, slashing through the creatures near Cloud and giving him enough space to get to his feet. Eleven more knights would appear, one by one, taking out more fiends and allowing Cloud to stagger and stumble toward the end of the bridge. He was still quite far away even with the knights' help, but he had made significant progress.

He could barely stand but continued to slice his way through the never-ending line of fiends. When he finally reached the ramp leading down from the bridge, he heard the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance. He looked around until he spotted it, too far to see him. It seemed to be flying around the desert perimeter of Edge, searching for something, but not landing. As he continued to fight through the monsters, he saw the helicopter getting closer and tried to jump up to get its attention. He stopped abruptly once it turned to the side and he squinted to see the Shinra logo on its side. What could Shinra be looking for here?

When the helicopter turned briefly toward the bridge, Cloud dropped to the ground, fairly certain he couldn't have been seen from his vantage point amongst the throngs of beasts. Was that… Reno… flying the helicopter? Why the hell would he be out here just flying randomly?

After a few more minutes, the helicopter was gone.

He scanned his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary – voices, footsteps, anything – but found nothing. Whatever Shinra wanted, they hadn't found on this trip.

Cloud used the last of his strength to lean against the railing of the ramp and roll over the edge, falling to the beach below. Unable to stand any longer, he crawled under the bridge to rest, just in case Reno or any other Turks came back. He wasn't about to be part of anything else Shinra may have wanted.

Now that he was on the eastern continent and further from the northern crater, his headaches returned more frequently. He couldn't sleep more than perhaps an hour or so before he would be woken up by one. He gave up hoping for a full sleep by daybreak.

His longest slog was still ahead of him, and there would be nowhere to hide along the way. He had used his elixir once he cast Knights of the Round so he could make it to the end of the bridge, which meant he had no more potions or ethers for the rest of the trip home.

He didn't see how it would be possible, but he had no choice. He didn't even know what time or day it was, since his watch had been broken since some time after leaving the Forgotten Capital. All he knew was that he needed to get home to Tifa.

He struggled to his feet, weary and unrested, but determined. He staggered up the hill along the side of the ramp. While the monsters were more spread out here on the open plains, there were not any fewer than there had been on the bridge. Cloud took a deep breath and gripped his sword, walking toward the hordes of fiends that stood between him and Tifa.

He slashed until a headache hit. At least some of the fiends would recoil when he would bring his hands to his head, fearing what this strange creature might be capable of doing. That helped somewhat to allow him to keep his place instead of being pushed back like on the bridge. Other monsters would still attack him when he was suffering, but there was not much he could do about it. He had tried to fight through it, but the headaches were getting more intense as they got more frequent. Oftentimes he'd drop his sword during one.

He was traveling southeast to the entrance of Edge. The trip wouldn't have taken more than a few hours on his bike, a few minutes on the airship. But on foot? And with the increase in monsters? Cloud had no clue when he would actually get home. Progress was slow with the headaches and fighting. He could see the old Shinra building towering in the distance.

"Tifa, I'm coming."

Just as when he was on the bridge, Cloud lost track of how many days he traveled. Night, day, it didn't matter. He couldn't sleep due to the headaches even when his body did give out on him. And if a headache didn't wake him, a fiend thinking it had found a free meal did. Cloud exhausted quickly on the trip, swinging his sword as best he could hoping to scare the creatures away from him rather than actually slicing them. His strength was sapped from lack of sleep, but he kept pushing. With each step, Edge was closer, as was Tifa.

Sleep. Headache. Fight. Sleep. Headache. Fight. He thought he was going crazy. Occasionally he would get a second wind and be able to tear through creatures faster, but that became rarer and rarer the closer he got to Edge. By the time he knew he was in the homestretch, everything became even more difficult, as he looked so close to death the monsters were taking more chances to attack him. He began dragging his sword behind him, only lifting it in an attempt to scare the beasts away. When at last he collapsed, prepared to die, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Need some help?" he looked up to see Zack standing in front of him.

Yep, he had indeed gone crazy after god only knows how long he had been on this path. He stared up at Zack with his mouth agape, not believing his old friend was indeed standing before him.

"You did your best, now let me help," Zack said, offering a hand to help Cloud up.

The blond's expression didn't change as he strained to get up. Propping himself up on his sword, Cloud made several unintelligible noises in Zack's direction.

"Relax, man, you aren't crazy," Zack said, drawing his sword and turning toward Edge. "But you're gonna have to keep up if you want to get home."

Cloud followed his friend, trying to stay on his feet as he watched Zack hack through the hordes with ease. Cloud stepped over corpses left in his friend's wake, and was all at once reminded how weak he had been when he and Zack escaped from Nibelheim so many years ago. Just like now, Zack had to do all the work of saving them, while Cloud clung to life. Zack _died_ because of Cloud's weakness. He had gotten stronger since then, but now he appeared to be in the same position again.

"…How?" he asked his friend while trying to stay conscious.

"Don't worry about it, just keep up," Zack said, smiling over his shoulder as he continued to fight.

When they reached the main entrance of Edge, Cloud couldn't lift his sword and was covered in blood from the creatures Zack had killed. The blond warrior never realized how much blood his strikes would draw, and now understood why his comrades always had more blood on them than he did.

"Think you can make it the rest of the way?" Zack asked as they stood on the main road.

Cloud nodded his head and grunted weakly. He didn't think he could take another step, but he didn't want Zack to have to escort him to Tifa's bar. Zack couldn't always be there for him and he needed to take care of himself now.

He passed his old friend, dragging his sword behind him, blood dripping from the injuries he had sustained over his travels. Each step was torture, but he knew as soon as he saw the sign for Seventh Heaven that he wouldn't have to fight much longer. He would be home.

**End notes: Hope that chapter was as much of a slog to read as it was to write. Cloud's trip was always going to be boring, but I thought it was necessary to show just how much he struggled while trying to get home.**


	34. Northern Crater

**Chapter 34: **

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 34:

"You went through all that… to get back to me?" Tifa asked when Cloud finished describing his trip, her heart heavy with the feeling that Cloud loved her, had always loved her, and she had no reason to doubt his love for her – but also heavy with the guilt of what her doubt had caused her to do.

Of course, now that she _knew_ what Cloud had gone through, she felt an intense guilt over her actions, but she had no way of knowing at the time. She could kick herself the rest of her life for doubting one second that Cloud Strife loved her and thinking he had abandoned her, but at the moment that's how it looked. He had been pulling away for months and then he disappeared. She didn't know at the time that he would be back in two months.

As Cloud spoke he had about half a dozen headaches. Tifa had tried a number of different remedies when he had an attack to see if anything worked. As she feared, the simple cure spell only coincidentally helped him during the one headache. A Curaga at the beginning didn't help either, neither did any kind of potion. The ice pack at least helped with the physical pain for a little bit, so she made sure to keep that cool for him. She also found that using Reno's panic attack techniques helped somewhat to get Cloud out of the episodes quicker, but nothing so far stopped them completely.

"Tifa, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you what was going on," Cloud responded. He didn't know what to say other than to apologize. "I thought I was doing the right thing…"

Tifa's voice hitched in her throat. Cloud clearly loved her so much and she had just… thrown it all away because she didn't give him enough time to come back and didn't go looking for him when that small part of her thought maybe he was injured and needed her.

"I thought I was protecting you," Cloud continued. Tifa audibly whelped and closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that were gathering in the outer corners of her eyes.

"Cloud…" she trailed off. She couldn't look at him and instead turned her nose toward the floor, her eyes still shut tight as the tears escaped.

"Tifa…"

"Oh, Cloud!" she said, suddenly throwing her arms around his shoulder and burying her face into his shoulder, sobbing. "I'm so sorry!"

She gripped the fabric of his shirt tightly in her hands as if he would disappear if she let go. He wrapped his arms around her back, assuming she was just apologizing for his ordeal. While he had hoped she'd come find him, he knew that was asking for a lot considering what he had done to her.

"It's not your fault," he soothed in a low, comforting tone as he began to rub her back gently.

Tifa sucked back a sob and pulled away from him. She wanted more time to be with him before she told him what had happened, but she couldn't listen to everything he had done to return to her without admitting what she had done. She knew it might destroy him, but he deserved to know that he fought so hard to come back to someone so unworthy.

"Cloud, I…" she trailed off. How could she tell him? "When you left… I thought you left me and… when you were gone, something happened."

Cloud felt his heart drop as a million possibilities regarding what that could mean swirled through his head. His heart started beating faster as he imagined all the worst-case scenarios. He knew he had no right to expect her to sit around waiting for him after what he had done to her – even before he left – but what could have possibly happened in two months?

"Tifa…"

"I…"

Cloud held up a hand to stop her from continuing. He didn't want to know. _Thinking_ and _knowing_ were two different things. He could imagine any number of scenarios that may or may not have happened, but if she told him, there would only be one – the one that happened. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to know," he said as if consoling her.

"But…"

"Tifa, I can't even begin to imagine what I put you through," Cloud began, trying to calm his fearful heart. "I deserve everything and then some, but I intend, starting right now, to spend the rest of my life proving to you how sorry I am."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and met her gaze. He hoped in that moment he would never learn what happened, though in the back of his mind he knew that really wasn't possible. She looked into his eyes and tried to smile, letting just the faintest hint cross her lips. She knew he would find out eventually, but right now, in this moment, she wanted to believe he wouldn't.

But also in that moment, she wondered where Reno was and what she was supposed to do now. Did she just leave him like the past two months were nothing when he was so often on her mind? Did she just take a chance with him and leave Cloud after their lifetime together?

When she thought of it like that, her choice seemed clear, yet now that she was with Cloud, she started thinking she was cheating on _Reno_.

She nodded at Cloud with her weak smile just in time for another headache to take him. Forgetting the thoughts fogging her mind, she pushed Cloud back on the bed and pressed the ice pack to his forehead while leaning over him and trying to get him to focus on her and repeating the "this shall pass" mantra.

When he snapped out of it, he looked at Tifa and smiled. God bless her, she was trying everything she could to help him through these episodes.

"I should call Barret about tomorrow," she said once it was clear Cloud was no longer suffering.

Cloud nodded and Tifa took out her PHS to call.

"Barret?" she asked when her old friend picked up.

"Yo!" he said boisterously. She cringed at the word, just as she had done the last time they spoke on the phone.

"Nanaki found something at the Forgotten Capital about the monsters. He thinks it's connected to Jenova," Tifa responded, keeping her eyes on Cloud as if she might miss one of his headaches.

"That thing still causing shit?" Barret asked.

"Apparently so. Nanaki thinks Jenova's head is still alive in the Northern Crater and calling all its cells back together."

"Wait, didn't we go through that already?"

"…Yeah," Tifa said, the painful memory of what happened to Cloud during their first visit to the Northern Crater coming back into her mind. "We need to make sure it's destroyed for good this time. Nanaki thinks that will stop the monster attacks."

"Whaddya need?"

"Cid said his airship should be fixed tomorrow, I was hoping you could join us all? The monsters seem to worst up north."

"Shit, of course I'll be there. Elmyra has been trapped here for weeks anyway thanks to those damn monsters. She can watch Marlene. And you said everyone would be there? I guess, not _everyone_…"

"Oh!" Tifa hadn't even realized she didn't tell Barret that Cloud was back. "We _will_ all be there; Cloud's back."

"Wha? When were ya gonna tell me! So, I guess this means things are back to normal?"

"More or less. His headaches are worse than ever," she said, ignoring his obvious implication. "Speaking of, he's having another one. We'll see you tomorrow Barret," Tifa hung up before waiting for Barret's response.

She had run out of ideas for new things to try with Cloud, and in her frustration – and her body seemingly returning to a time long before Cloud left – she grabbed his head and hugged him tightly against her chest. It didn't help his suffering, but when he came to he was pleasantly surprised.

"Um, hello," he said, practically into her bosom. Tifa's cheeks flushed and she loosened her grip on Cloud, allowing him to pull back from her.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know what I was thinking," she said.

"I'm not complaining," Cloud said with a wicked grin.

God he missed her. He knew he couldn't just show up again and take her physically, not after what he had done to her. Even worse, he wouldn't even be able to make it through a sexual encounter without getting a headache. At this point he realized how little he could offer her – he couldn't hold a conversation without getting a headache, couldn't properly pleasure her without getting one, and couldn't be left on his own. Oh, and he might just be dying. Yeah, he felt like a real prize right now.

He hid his thoughts by smiling at her. He couldn't start thinking like that again, it's what drove him away in the first place. He needed to stay focused on the Northern Crater and just pray that Nanaki was right.

He stared into her eyes for a moment before he caught a hint of something near her left hip bone. Now, Cloud may not have been around for two months, and he may have been dodgy before then, but he still knew Tifa's body. Every inch of it. And so even what remained as a faint scar from the gunshot wound caught his eye. He looked down and pointed at it.

"What happened here?" he asked.

Tifa followed his gaze and realized he had noticed the scar, something she herself didn't even remember was there since it had healed so well thanks to materia spells.

"Oh, that? I, um, got shot…"

Cloud's eyes widened to the point of nearly bugging out of his head. Tifa _had_ been injured while he was gone, and he hadn't been there to protect her.

"You were shot?!" he said a little too loudly.

Tifa instantly worried he would blame himself for not being there and mentally beat himself up.

"It was a through and through. It wasn't serious. I didn't even _want_ to go to the hospital after it happened…" she tried to soothe him.

It didn't work.

"Who shot you? When? What happened?" Cloud's heart started racing as he thought of what he would do to the people responsible – and thought this might be what she had tried previously to tell him about. Tifa smiled and let out a little laugh at how overprotective he was being, even though his headaches would have prevented him from being much help at the time.

"It's okay, Cloud, really. A couple customers got into an argument and drew guns, I knocked one out and the other one panicked and accidentally shot me."

"Accidentally?"

"Really, he was so focused on his friend getting knocked out that he started waving the gun around and it went off."

"Where are they?"

"Um… I haven't seen the one I knocked out but the one who shot me is dead," Tifa looked at her lap, avoiding eye contact with Cloud. She knew she would have to explain how the Turks helped her but hoped it wouldn't give away her secret.

"Well, at least he's already dead," Cloud said, absentmindedly rubbing Tifa's scar. "I'm just glad you're okay. Anything else like that happen?"

Tifa shook her head. Nope, nothing "else like that" happened, she thought to herself. She relaxed when he had no follow-up questions about the incident.

_The next day…_

Reno didn't understand why he was still being forced to listen in on Seventh Heaven when Rude and Tseng were also eavesdropping. Rufus was probably still hooked in to bugs as well. Was Rufus doing this to torture him? Reno had never gotten along with the younger Shinra, but couldn't think of anything _recently_ he had done to piss him off, unless he was still disgusted by listening to Tifa's orgasms.

Reno did not like listening to Tifa taking care of Cloud or listening to chocobo head encroach on the Turk's turf. Well, it's not like Reno hadn't encroached on Cloud's turf after he disappeared, but Tifa was Reno's turf now and Cloud needed to get off his lawn, so to speak. Not that Reno saw Tifa as his or even wanted her to be his, mind you.

The hot-headed Turk would have given _anything_ to be doing something else right now. There were Turks stationed all over the world, why couldn't he be working with one of them. God, he'd rather be in Junon on a mission with _Alvis_ than sitting here listening to Cloud tell Tifa how much he loved her. And Reno _hated_ Alvis, what with his stupid (dull) red hair, ego, and use of the mag rod. On more than one occasion Reno had been told he and Alvis were alike and should get along, but Reno rejected the notion, claiming he was nothing like Alvis. For one thing, Alvis rode motorcycles and Reno flew helicopters. They were _so_ not alike.

Reno had been in a bad mood ever since Cloud returned, but came up with a number of excuses to hide that fact. He kept making them – he was tired, he stubbed his toe, he couldn't get a stupid song out of his head – even though he was well aware no one was buying them. He hadn't tried to contact Tifa, even after he heard her try to tell Cloud about their relationship. She hadn't pushed the issue and didn't push back when Cloud said he would prove to her he was sorry. Reno scoffed at the comment, finding Cloud rather sappy, but was a smidge dismayed when Tifa seemed to accept that he would be in her life until he died.

He _also_ didn't like the fact that Cloud had seen him in his helicopter searching around Midgar. Reno had made a couple expeditions to look for Cloud whenever Tifa seemed particularly upset about his absence. Reno would never admit it, but he was hoping for some evidence that Cloud was never coming back.

The phone in Tseng's office rang and the redhead snapped out of his thoughts. He could tell from Tseng's responses that Rufus had called.

"Yes, we'll be right up," Tseng said before hanging up the phone.

"_We'll_" be right up? Tseng hardly ever accompanied them to Rufus' office. This was not going to be pleasant.

And it wasn't.

"I trust you heard that AVALANCHE is going to the Northern Crater to destroy Jenova's head," Rufus said once all four Edge-based Turks were in his office.

Reno groaned. He knew where this was going and while he missed being out in the world and seeing real action, he was not looking forward to facing all the monsters that were certainly at the Northern Crater. Strife barely survived the non-stop encounters of his trip back to Edge, and he had all kinds of physical enhancements thanks to Hojo. Even with proper supplies and three colleagues, Reno didn't want to deal with that kind of fighting. _Especially_ since he knew they would run into AVALANCHE.

"You all will be heading up there as well to beat them to the punch," Rufus continued. "If you fail, join them and at least take some credit for Shinra."

"I take it that means I'm staying in the helicopter after I drop them off?" Reno asked, shifting his weight to one side and placing a hand on his hip. "Unless you think we can park the chopper at the crater with all those fiends around."

"Of course not, and you're going in, too," Rufus informed him, a cruel smile forming on his lips. "I've brought in one of your colleagues to fly you four to the crater and stand on-call for a quick escape."

Reno visibly tensed. Oh no. Rufus couldn't actually mean…? The president really _did_ hate him, didn't he?

"She's been training as a pilot over the past year and has the skills to handle the chopper, as you called it, while you all stop Jenova," Rufus continued.

Maybe there was a different female Turk who spent the past year training as a pilot and who maybe didn't hate Reno's guts because he slept with her as a new recruit and never paid her for delivering flowers from Nibelheim to Tifa…

The door to Rufus' office opened and Reno could see that, nope, there hadn't been a different female Turk who became a backup pilot. Shotgun was now walking toward the group, her ashy blonde ponytail swinging from side to side as she made her way to them. She maintained a neutral smile on her face and nodded to everyone in the room as a brief greeting – except for Reno, whom she refused to acknowledge.

"H, hey, Shotgun," Reno said weakly, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"That's not my name," she said coldly, trying to stay professional in front of Rufus.

"I can never remember it," Reno offered. "It's too weird."

"It's _not_ weird. It's Freyra. Like Freya, from Norse mythology-" Reno nodded his head to pretend that he was also like everyone else who was allegedly familiar with Norse mythology "-but with an extra 'R.'"

"Shotgun is way easier."

Freyra scoffed and crossed her arms, turning her head to the side briskly and causing her ponytail to fly in the opposite direction.

"When do we leave?" Tseng asked, changing the conversation before needing to keep the two Turks from killing each other. He only hoped Freyra wouldn't sacrifice the rest of them just to get back at Reno for whatever it was (Tseng had some ideas) he had done.

"Is the helicopter ready?" Rufus asked Freyra.

"Yes, sir," she said, straightening up as she answered.

"Then… now," Rufus told Tseng, as if he had just said something incredibly obvious.

Tseng nodded and began walking toward the door. His subordinates followed.

Once outside and sufficiently away from Rufus' office, Freyra spun on her heel to point a finger angrily at Reno.

"Where's my money, Reno?" she hissed, stabbing him in the chest with the fingernail of her outstretched digit.

Reno bent backwards at the hips to try and pull away from her poke, but she held firm.

"Whoa, hey, nice to see you, too, Shotgun."

"Freyra. Where's my money, Reno? You promised me 80,000 gil to deliver those flowers!"

Rude stopped and capped his sunglasses to look at the two Turks who were arguing. Reno promised her _that_ much to get those flowers to Tifa?

"Is that what I promised? Seems high," Reno stopped and folded one arm across his chest to block Freyra's stabs while balancing his other elbow on his arm, bringing a finger to his chin in thought.

"You think I would have gone and picked flowers in the mountains, bundled them, and then _flown_ them to Edge to break into someone's apartment for cheap?"

"No one ever said you were cheap, doll," Reno smirked. He couldn't help himself. Freyra huffed and brought her thumb and index finger to massage the bridge of her nose.

"I just want my money, Reno. I don't care who you killed, just give me the money."

"Killed?"

"I assumed those flowers were for some widow whose husband you felt bad about killing?" Freyra asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Uh, yeah, a widow…"

Freyra's eyes looked like they were about to shoot fireballs. "Are you telling me you had me deliver flowers to one of your _whores_?"

"No!" Reno said, a little too defensively.

"Unbelievable," Freyra said, throwing her hands in the air and turning away from Reno. "Just get me the money and don't ever ask me for anything again."

"Why did you think they were going to a widow?" Reno couldn't help but be curious, even if he was just making the situation worse.

"That room looked like it had been decorated by my grandmother, there were quilts everywhere," Freyra responded, causing Reno to choke back a laugh.

He had to admit he didn't like Tifa's taste in decorating, but he couldn't fault her. She was obviously recreating what she knew from her childhood in Nibelheim. He'd seen her old house, and the recreated version, her home in Edge looked similar.

"So, Freyra, how's work in Mideel?" Elena piped up as they approached the elevator. Like Tseng, she too worried that Freyra's anger at Reno would cause them issues on the mission. She knew Freyra was a professional, but she'd never seen her act like this.

Freyra's demeanor changed in an instant. "Lovely as ever, but I'm rarely home since they keep sending me around the world. I actually just got back North Corel. Emma says 'hi.'"

Elena mumbled something about wishing she hadn't asked and broke out a wide, fake smile.

"Oh! Is she doing well? I hope she's doing well, tell her I said that," the blond Turk said in an overly saccharine tone.

Tseng turned to look at her in the elevator briefly before staring straight ahead again with the slightest hint of a smile on his face. His guilty pleasure had always been watching the rivalry between Elena and her sister.

"The chopper is fully stocked and fueled," Freyra informed them when they reached the roof.

Reno didn't attempt to hide his bitterness at having to be a passenger in a Shinra helicopter. Of all the things he had agreed to do for Shinra, this was _not_ one of them that he would gladly accept.

_Meanwhile…_

"Cid!" Tifa exclaimed as she threw her arms around the gruff pilot.

She and Cloud were the first to be picked up for the trip to the Northern Crater.

"How ya been?" Cid asked as he embraced Tifa, turning his head to the side so he wouldn't burn her with the cigarette in his mouth.

"Well," Tifa said, lowering her head and turning back toward Cloud, who was avoiding physical contact just in case he'd go into another "episode."

"Hoping this trip stops all the crap in my head once and for all," Cloud told Cid with an attempted smile. Cid nodded.

"Well, then let's get outta here and get everyone else," Cid said, motioning toward the airship.

Their next stop was Junon, which surprised Cloud and Tifa.

"Who's in Junon?" Tifa asked as Cid hovered the airship over the landing pad at the port. Monsters had taken over the ground, so landing wasn't an option, even at Junon, where a strong police force kept the fiends at bay as long as they could.

"Cait Sith!" Cid said, a cigarette still dangling from his lips. "Reeve's made some improvements and said he wants to go with us, but he's fuckin' useless without that damn cat."

Tifa looked out the window in the bridge and saw the robot cat riding the fat moogle hopping toward the ship. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Reeve, but she definitely hadn't seen Cait Sith since Meteorfall. Also, she was pretty sure Reeve hadn't called himself "fuckin' useless."

Cait climbed up the rope ladder to the airship and soon appeared on the bridge.

"Cloud! You're back!" he said when he noticed the blond warrior, who had just recovered from a headache. Tifa was standing next to him with her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. "What's wrong?"

Tifa explained what had been going on while Cait listened intently.

"I see," the cat said, crossing his arms. "Well, let's get moving then, if Nanaki's correct, the sooner we get to the Northern Crater the sooner Cloud's headaches will subside."

Barret was the last stop before the group headed to the Forgotten Capital. Tifa took the opportunity to say hello to Elmyra and hug Marlene. The little girl was excited to see Cloud and ran up to him to hug him around the waist tightly. To Tifa's relief, Marlene didn't ask about Reno or say anything about the helicopter ride.

They were at the Forgotten Capital not long after leaving North Corel. Nanaki, Vincent, and Yuffie met them all outside the tunnel that led to Aeris' lake, where Cloud provided a brief explanation of where he had been. Yuffie's eyes grew wide as he spoke and she found herself looking nervously at Tifa, who would avert her eyes. Luckily, Cloud didn't notice.

"So, _you're_ the one who took all the best materia!" Yuffie accused when Cloud finished his story. He shrugged.

"Did you need it?" he asked calmly, knowing he was in for a tongue-lashing.

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and began tapping her foot anxiously.

"Need – need it? What kind of stupid question is _that_? It's not about _need_—"

"We should get going," Barret cut her off, in no mood to listen to her complaining.

"Glad you're back, Cloud," Nanaki said, while Vincent just nodded.

Nanaki had watched Tifa as Cloud spoke, trying to get a read on her. He smelled the familiar scent of love or whatever coming off of each of them, but not _that_ smell. He wondered what the situation was involving that red-haired Turk and if Cloud knew. Nanaki certainly wasn't going to say anything, opting instead to continue to observe the actions of humans in order to learn about their behavior.

With AVALANCHE (almost) completely reunited, the group returned to the airship after a quick prayer at Aeris' lake. They were hovering over the Northern Crater within minutes, and everyone looked at Cloud expectantly, as they had done two years ago when they were about to enter the Northern Crater to fight Sephiroth.

Cloud scratched the back of his head nervously.

"You guys still expect me to make some grand speech?" he asked. The others nodded.

Cloud was saved – if you could call it that – by another headache. He hadn't had one since they were approaching the Forgotten Capital in the airship, but now everyone knew what he had been going through the past year or so. Tifa rushed to his side, as always, while the others looked on with concern.

"Is there anything we can do?" Nanaki asked.

"I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing works," Tifa responded.

Though Cloud was in pain, he wasn't deaf. Had he _not_ been suffering or just returned after selfishly breaking Tifa's heart, he would have made a comment about her not trying _everything_ just yet. He also wasn't so sure Tifa hadn't thought of that but was just too timid to try it based on what he had done to her.

When the migraine ended, everyone was still looking at him.

"Seriously?" he asked, referring to the whole speech thing. He shook his head and groaned. "What did I say last time? Wasn't this when I sent you all home?"

Oh, he remembered _that_ night. He looked to his left to see Tifa had turned her face from everyone and was blushing. Yeah, she was thinking about that, too.

"I don't have anything to say because I don't know exactly what we're going to find," Cloud continued. "Last time, we knew what we were facing, but this time we're looking for… Jenova's head? I guess all there really is to say is… let's mosey."

Cid groaned loudly. He always hated when Cloud said that and was a little suspicious the blond swordsman had done that on purpose to annoy him. Still, he let out a "whoop" with everyone else when Cloud said it. It did feel good to be together as a group again, listening to Cloud try to rally everyone up before a big mission. It was like old times.

The Highwind was left in the hands of Cid's crew since it couldn't land on the Northern Crater. The area had been heavily damaged after Sephiroth, and the hordes of monsters that covered the region wouldn't take too kindly to a mechanical intruder. The group looked over the railing and couldn't even see the ground due to the high fiend activity.

"I'll go first," Cloud said.

He would be damned if he let anyone else get hurt now that he was back. He may have been selfish and gone off to die on his own when he could have stayed with them and asked for help and acceptance, but now he wasn't going to let any of them – especially Tifa – get hurt on his watch.

He climbed down the rope ladder and dropped into a crowd of beasts, disappearing from the view of those still onboard the airship. Tifa was already climbing down behind him, and Barret was waiting until she was lower to start disembarking.

Tifa looked down as she neared the ground and could only see the swipe of Cloud's sword and body parts of fiends flying. She hopped off the ladder and began swinging her fists, calling out to let Cloud know where she was so she didn't end up in his path. Once the others had joined, all eight set about killing monsters on their way into the crater. Even though there was little room for anyone to maneuver, the beasts still seemed intent on fighting for space.

Slowly but surely, AVALANCHE made it into the crater, dropping down onto the circular path that wound down the inside. After jumping across the first two ledges, Yuffie noticed some commotion on the path ahead and a little below them.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked in between spell casts.

Tifa's eyes widened when she realized what they were about to meet. She couldn't see their faces yet, but she knew the sound and light from Reno's EMR anywhere. Just ahead of them were all four Turks, who seemed to be also fighting their way down into the crater, though they appeared to be struggling even as strong as they were.

AVALANCHE was able to move forward a bit faster, and Cloud soon found himself attacking the same monster as Reno. The two locked Mako-infused eyes for a moment before Reno smirked.

"Nice you could join us, Strife," he said before stabbing a gargoyle with his mag rod.


	35. Stay With Me

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

**Want to remind readers that while this story does contain elements of Advent Children it does not take place in that world. It takes place two years after the events of the original game.**

Chapter 35:

Two sets of eyes, each glowing from Mako infusion, both locked on the other, yet only one man knew why they were truly in a sudden competition.

Reno had imagined this moment quite a bit over the past few weeks, but especially in the past couple days. His original instinct was of course to antagonize Cloud about this secret with Tifa, but as time went on he came to realize that such a tactic would only serve to anger Tifa and possibly drive her away. A month ago that might not have mattered, as seeing her angry or embarrassed was a huge turn on for him, but for some reason now Reno didn't want her angry with him.

Now he planned to be more coy about the situation. He was going to do something he had never done before, actually compete for a woman's affections. Sure, he had challenged other men at bars who seemed to be interested in a woman Reno had his eye on for the evening, but this was something different. While he kept telling himself he only wanted to win Tifa from Cloud so he could screw her a few more times and maybe see what that pretty mouth of hers could do, it was getting harder for him to fool himself. He'd never considered fighting this hard for a woman before, and he was beginning to forget what this whole thing was about.

Cloud, on the other hand, was simply trying to out-fight the Turks because that was what he was used to doing. He hadn't been there when the Turks were helping Tifa defend Edge and he didn't know about them helping her with the bullet wound. They always seemed to show up wherever AVALANCHE was heading; always one step ahead.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Cloud seethed as the two groups continued to fight the creatures along the path leading deeper into the Northern Crater.

"Same as you," Reno said with a smirk, swinging his mag rod almost wildly at the beasts with his right hand while using his left hand to shoot.

Rude, Elena, and Tseng were ahead of Reno, working through the crowd of fiends. Cloud was near Reno, with Tifa close behind and the rest of AVALANCHE behind her. Much of the Northern Crater was destroyed after the battle with Sephiroth years earlier, but some of the old path remained, though traversing it was difficult, not just because of the stream of fiends.

As they worked their way down what remained of the spiraling path, Cloud started to notice Reno was sticking close by him. At first, Cloud thought it was either a territorial thing or that the sniveling Turk was trying to slack off by staying in Cloud's wake. Cloud himself was staying near Tifa to ensure she was protected, as he had done so often on their first journey together as a group. For a brief moment, Cloud had an inkling that Reno also seemed to be closer to Tifa than the rest of his group, as if _he_ were trying to protect her, too.

Absurd, Cloud thought. The only Turk who acted differently around AVALANCHE – specifically, Tifa – was Rude. But Rude was with the other Turks, while Reno was hanging back. Cloud chalked it up to an increased sensitivity since he came back.

"How did you know to come here?" Tifa yelled from behind Cloud, over the roar and sounds of weapons against flesh.

It was a question Cloud hadn't considered asking. The Turks were always popping up ahead of AVALANCHE, so he assumed this was no different. To Tifa, however, it was not sitting well. She knew Shinra had some useless documents she and Vincent had obtained in Nibelheim and whatever they found in the old Shinra building, but she thought they would have gone through all that weeks ago. Nanaki and the others found out they needed to go to the Northern Crater _after_ the Turks took Tifa home, so they wouldn't have been around at the time of the discovery.

A pit formed in Tifa's stomach. How else _could_ the Turks have known unless they were surveilling her. Was _that_ what Reno had been doing this entire time? She had to admit seeing him here filled her with a sense of dread while also making her insides tingle. She hadn't heard from him since he asked her out on a real date. She didn't know why he hadn't reached out to her, even through a text, since that time, but it didn't really cross her mind until now because she had been so focused on taking care of Cloud. But if Reno _knew_ Cloud had returned, it might have caused him to give her space, even though that also didn't seem like Reno's style.

"That's classified," Reno responded.

He had winced a little at her question, worried she was putting two and two together. He didn't take her for an idiot, but had hoped she wouldn't figure out the Turks had bugged her home. How could he explain that to her? He hadn't wanted to do it and he tried to get them taken out, but he was also the one who installed them in her apartment – while she slept in bed after he had pleasured her senseless.

Tifa punched a parasite clear across the crater to let out her frustration. The creature exploded in a rather impressive way against the wall of the far side of the crater, its guts dropping onto beasts below it. Cloud was too busy slashing away to notice, but Reno and a few other members of AVALANCHE saw the display.

"_Shit_," Reno thought to himself. "_She's at least suspicious._"

A little further down the path, the ground beneath AVALANCHE began to shake. Everyone, even the monsters, stopped for a moment to see if anything was going to happen. A moment later there was another rumble, and the ground began to give away. Tifa and Yuffie were able to jump toward Cloud to avoid falling, while Vincent, Nanaki, Cid, and Cait Sith were all behind the destruction. Barret, however, was caught in the middle, and while he ran as fast as he could once it was clear the ground beneath him was about to crumble, he only managed to grab onto the ledge near Cloud's part of the group. He dangled precariously above the lower part of the crater, holding onto the ledge with his good hand. He looked down, watching as several fiends had been unlucky enough to be standing on the same area and were now tumbling to their deaths.

"Barret!" Tifa called from the ledge.

Cloud soon joined them, leaving the Turks to deal with the creatures nearby.

"Well don't this feel familiar?" Barret joked once he saw Cloud.

"I seem to remember it a little differently," Cloud teased back.

Barret looked down again, wondering if he could survive the fall that had killed the beasts. _Maybe_. Cloud had survived a longer fall – a couple of long falls, actually – but Cloud was some kind of freak.

"Can you pull me up?" he asked his blond friend.

"You're heavy," Cloud noted somberly as he grabbed Barret by the vest and began to pull him up.

Cloud was certainly strong, but Barret was a large man, and this wasn't exactly the easiest angle to hoist someone up, especially without anything to brace against. Cloud also was _not_ going to attempt to pull Barret up by his gun arm. He didn't care how well grafted that gun was, he found the prospect of pulling on it quite horrific.

"Well, shit," Barret said, feeling his grip slipping ever so slightly.

Barret used all of his strength to bend his arm and try to pull himself up when suddenly Cloud was joined by another set of hands gripping Barret's vest. It wasn't Tifa or Yuffie – they were keeping the monsters away from the edge – the arms were clothed in a dark blue suit jacket. It wasn't Reno, but Rude, who was reaching over the ledge to assist AVALANCHE.

"We're not your enemy anymore," Rude said as he and Cloud hoisted Barret up onto the ledge. Rude, mistaking Cloud's comment about Barret's size as an indication he was struggling, had left his fellow Turks to help.

Cloud looked at the bald Turk skeptically, but Barret and Tifa seemed to agree with him.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

"The Turks been helpin' to kill the monsters in Edge," Barret said to spare Tifa from explaining.

"Is that true?" Cloud asked Tifa, who nodded.

"It was getting worse and worse after you left, and they started patrolling the streets until Reeve built up the police force," she responded.

Cloud sighed. His concerns hadn't been allayed, merely set aside. The Turks may be helping them now, but he heard Reno's response to Tifa's question and now he was suspicious they might have ulterior motives.

"Fine," Cloud said, shaking his head. "But I'm still skeptical."

"Yeah? Well, that's what happens when you disappear for two months," Reno yelled over to them before ramming his mag rod into a master tonberry.

Cloud shot him a glare that the redhead didn't notice. He then got back to his feet and sliced the master tonberry in half. Without the constant headaches, he felt like his old self again. Rather than being envious, Reno merely shrugged and turned his attention to the next monster.

The gap in the path caused by the broken ground wasn't too far, allowing the remaining members of AVALANCHE to cross easily and return to the fight. Many of the monsters behind him lacked the skills to jump the gap, either falling to their deaths or padding at the edge in an attempt to stop those behind them from pushing them over. Vincent was the last to jump, nearly getting pushed in himself from the constant onslaught of creatures attempting to reach the depths of the crater.

At least this meant they wouldn't face too many creatures behind them as they moved forward. They were nearly to the bottom of the spiraling path, with everyone focusing on their own fiend, when Cloud suddenly noticed the dark dragon. It had managed to float over the gap and was heading toward Tifa.

Tifa remained focused on the scissors currently trying to cut her in half. She dodged one of its attacks, then spun on her heel to roundhouse kick it in the face. It staggered backwards, giving her an opening to somersault kick it off the path and to its death. She was about to help Yuffie with another parasite when she heard Cloud.

"Tifa!" he yelled as he bolted at breakneck speed toward the dragon that was preparing to attack her.

The creature reared its head and prepared to swipe her, but its claws met with something solid. In an instant, Cloud was upon it with omnislash, slicing the creature eight ways from Sunday. When he finished, he realized Tifa was trapped behind a yellow-tinted wall. As she banged on the pyramid to try and break free, Cloud turned to Reno to shout at him.

"You idiot! You missed!" he scowled.

Reno shrugged, not missing a beat in attacking the creature in front of him.

"Did I?" he called back to Cloud, who was already attacking the pyramid to release Tifa.

"Yeah, you did! Now I have to hit this thing instead of another fiend!" Cloud slashed wildly at the pyramid, as Tifa attacked it from the inside.

When it first formed around her, she thought as Cloud did, that Reno had missed the dragon, but when she turned to glare at him and scream obscenities (even though she knew the pyramid was soundproof) he gave her a quick wink.

Reno was quick, maybe even as fast as Cloud, but he certainly wasn't fast_er_ than Cloud and wouldn't have been able to get to the dragon before the swordsman, so he did the only other thing he could to help Tifa. It was a win-win for him, he was able to gain points with Tifa while pissing off Cloud. He decided not to respond to the blond's latest taunt.

Reno's smugness dissipated when Cloud freed Tifa from his pyramid and gave her a quick embrace. Reno could see the blond's lips moving close to Tifa's ear just before she nodded at him with a simple smile. The redheaded Turk wanted that attention, but he knew that even though several members of AVALANCHE had seen them interact and may or may not be suspicious – especially the big oaf – he knew he couldn't act the way Cloud could around her. He had to be more devious for this challenge. Still, his ears tinged pink and his nostrils flared whenever he would witness Cloud display even the slightest hint of affection toward Tifa. What was worse, Reno _hated_ the fact that he felt heat in the back of his neck whenever he saw Tifa and Cloud interact.

What was this feeling? _Jealousy?_ Reno had never been jealous of anyone in his life, but ever since Cloud came back he had been getting this weird feeling he couldn't pinpoint and he didn't like. It was like something would flare up inside him at the thought of Tifa being with Cloud, and he'd never felt that before. Whenever he wanted a woman, he got her. He _had_ Tifa just a few days earlier. Normally he really would be done with the woman. Normally, by now, he wouldn't want to see her face again, yet he had to force himself not to look in her direction. He was staying closer to her, which caused him to bump into Cloud occasionally, but even if he couldn't flirt with the brunette beauty, he would at least try to keep Cloud away from her.

Even at the bottom of the spiral path, the monsters continued on. Cloud had managed to work his way to the front of the group with Tseng and Elena, while Tifa and Reno were close behind, followed by Rude and the rest of AVALANCHE. Cloud was the first to jump down to the next area, a series of short drops between rock ledges, some of which had collapsed after AVALANCHE escaped from the crater two years ago.

"How is this place not backed up with fiends?" Tseng asked when he joined Cloud and Tifa on the ledge below the winding path.

"I have no idea," Cloud replied.

"You'd think they woulda run outta room down here by now," Barret chimed in as he dropped down to join them.

Most of the ledges in the upper part of the area weren't large enough for creatures to bunch up and fight, so the group had a bit of a break from fighting. Once they reached the lower ledges, however, the creatures started piling up again. A pair of allemanges blocked the group from traveling deeper into the crater.

Cid leapt into the air and drove his spear directly into the eye of one of the flying beasts, causing it to fall to the ground. It writhed in pain and screeched, kicking its useless little legs and flapping its wings until Cid placed a foot on its eyelid and pried his spear out of its body, making a gross squishing sound and splattering some blood as he did so.

Cid had been bringing up the rear of the long line of fighters ever since they left the Highwind. While walking practically backwards, he managed to get some of the creatures to stay back from the group by jabbing the Venus Gospel at them. He had to kill a bunch of fiends in the beginning, but eventually they started keeping a distance from the group. Occasionally one would lurch forward at him, but it would fall back in line when he moved to strike with his weapon. Even then, he and Vincent, who was just ahead of him, still had to take on some of the beasts that decided to take a chance.

Cid had also been out of the loop compared to everyone else and was confused as to why AVALANCHE was seemingly okay with the Turks tagging along on this mission instead of once again fighting them. The last he remembered, he had flown Tifa back to Edge after the Turks stole what she and Vincent had found in the basement of the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim. He'd pretty much been working on the Highwind ever since. He suddenly felt very left out of whatever was going on. Not that he wanted anyone else to call him just to shoot the shit or gossip, but a little "hey, we don't hate the Turks anymore" notice would have been nice.

He hadn't really noticed anything suspicious between the two groups until after he crossed the broken gap in the spiraling path. With the monsters mostly contained behind him, he was able to move further up to the group to help with what was ahead of them. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Reno wink after he encased Tifa in the pyramid. Something about that particular Turk always bothered Cid. Maybe it was just professional jealousy from one pilot to another.

And Cid may have been rather curmudgeonly for his age – and out of the romance game – but he didn't think he would have lost the ability to tell when one person liked another. That wink he thought he saw in Tifa's direction did not carry the malice that an expression from Reno usually carried. Cid, however, did not want to make any assumptions based on that one single interaction, even if it did make the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He soon found himself catching other odd interactions that seemed to provide him more evidence, though he still wanted to dismiss it. Reno seemed to be fighting closer to Tifa and Cloud than his fellow Turks, and by the time Cloud moved up to where Tseng was leading the group, Reno fell in line just behind the two leaders – along with Tifa. Each one of those things could have easily been explained away by coincidence, but all together, along with the wink, and he was suspicious. Or maybe he was just longing for the relationship drama of the past, when Tifa and Aeris were oh-so-obviously into Cloud and he seemed rather oblivious. Cid would never admit it, but that little side story was his guilty pleasure during their days chasing Sephiroth.

He'd also felt a special kinship with Tifa, since she grew up in a town not too far from Rocket Town and had everything taken from her by Shinra, so part of him wanted to see the girl getting her due, though he wouldn't exactly call Reno a gentleman. Rapscallion was more like it.

Reno seemingly trying to protect Tifa wasn't the only strange connection Cid noticed once he was able to view the rest of the group. Elena was almost joined at hip with Tseng, the two working together to keep the fiends away. It was after Cid's mind started considering there was something between the two Turks that he thought he might just be overanalyzing everyone else because his own heart was full of love.

He hadn't told anyone yet, but if everything went well on this mission and the world was saved once again, he was going to propose to Shera. He had bought a ring months ago when the monster situation wasn't yet out of control. He had planned to propose to Shera that night, but when he returned home, he found she had been injured by a fiend. It wasn't serious and she recovered quickly, but the fact that she had been hurt for the first time made Cid uneasy. He knew back then something worse was coming and didn't want to propose while the world struggled. When Tifa called a few days ago asking for him to take her and Cloud to the Forgotten Capital, and then learning they were headed to the Northern Crater to bust up Jenova's head again, he felt encouraged. As he stabbed and slashed creatures with his spear, he thought about how much closer he was to getting back home to Shera.

Ever since he had actually gotten to go to outer space – with her help – their relationship had gotten back on track. No longer burdened by the anger of losing his life dream, Cid softened. He was still a hothead with a foul vocabulary, but not toward Shera anymore.

When Tifa and the Turks left the Forgotten City, Yuffie wouldn't shut up about them. It grated on Vincent as he continued to scour the library for the information they needed to solve the monster population problem. Yuffie at first tried to wrangle Nanaki into her gossiping, but the red beast hacked up… something… when the conversation started and Yuffie thought it best to keep her distance. So, she plodded on over to Vincent and tried to get him to engage.

"What's going on with Reno? He seems to like Tifa, doesn't he? Think Cloud's gone for good?" and more questions flooded out of Yuffie's mouth. Vincent's expression didn't change at all, but inside his head, he was practically _screaming_, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" He had to read the same sentence about three dozen times before he finally tuned her out. Thank God she tired herself out and went to sleep shortly after.

In the Northern Crater, Vincent was more at peace. Yuffie wasn't gossiping since she found out Cloud was back, and everyone was so focused on the intense battle that they didn't have time to chit chat. Just the way Vincent liked it. He was helping Cid keep the monsters at bay as they traveled to the center of the crater, shooting as Cid jabbed at any fiend that tried to move up to their blockade. After he jumped the gap, he found himself focusing on Cloud, Tifa, and Reno as they continued on their path. He hated it and refused to accept that anything might be going on to justify Yuffie's theories. _Maybe_ Cloud and Reno were battling the monsters closest to Tifa as she fought on her own, but it could have all been a spatial coincidence. Vincent really couldn't be bothered with the personal lives of his teammates, even if they were considered his friends.

Reeve was only slightly less out of the loop than Cid. He was vaguely aware through his dealings with Rufus Shinra that the Turks were looking into the monster situation. He had also heard rumors that the investigation involved a certain famous barmaid, but when Reeve confronted Shinra, the man denied everything, assuring Reeve that the company was no longer in the business of hassling his AVALANCHE friends. Reeve wasn't completely convinced, which is why he wanted to send Cait Sith along with the group to the crater.

Through Cait Sith's eyes he was able to see Reno trap Tifa in a pyramid while Cloud killed a dragon, but that was the extent of any involvement between the Turks and the barmaid. Like Cait Sith, everyone was focused on trying to clear a path to the bottom of the crater.

Nanaki was able to breathe better since Tifa and the Turks left the Forgotten Capital and now in the Northern Crater, where the stench of fiends was much more acceptable to him than the human smell of love or whatever. He had been conflicted ever since his phone call with Tifa where he learned that Cloud was back. While usually he was interested in studying the interactions between those of two legs, he now worried that his friend would be hurt or that the group might suffer based on certain developments.

He didn't like the Turks; didn't trust them and didn't know why Tifa would grow close to any of them. They had helped at the Forgotten Capital, but they had also stolen information – not to mention everything they had done during AVALANCHE's last adventure. Still, Nanaki didn't want to judge Tifa. He knew how badly she had been crushed when Cloud left and the months before when he was ignoring her and keeping to himself. He previously had no doubts that the two would always be together, but after Cloud broke her heart, Nanaki had looked at him a little differently.

Hearing the summary of what Cloud went through while he was away assuaged those doubts quite a bit, leading Nanaki to want to wash his paws of the whole situation and focus on destroying Jenova's head. This was not a human interaction of which he wanted to be a part.

Barret was ecstatic that Cloud was back, though he would always harbor some slight resentment toward him for the way he left Tifa. Tifa was like another daughter to him even though they were only 15 years apart. He didn't like hearing her cry or watching her suffer because some idiot broke her heart, especially when that idiot didn't even know what was good for him.

He'd seen the way Reno looked at Tifa when they were on the beach that day, and he was noticing hints of those looks as they fought their way through the crater. From his perspective, having witnessed what he had witnessed at the beach, Reno was trying to show off in front of Tifa. Barret had seen the redhead fight before, and he always had an agile, efficient utility to his style, but here in the Northern Crater, he appeared to be adding extra flourishes. He was spinning around and flying through the air like Cloud, taking on multiple foes and bringing down creatures before Tifa could get to them or those that were prepared to strike her. The poor girl seemed to be struggling to find something to fight with both Cloud and Reno protecting her.

The only thing that made Barret rethink his suspicions and think that, maybe Reno was just trying to show up Cloud was the fact that he kept using his mag rod dangerously close to Tifa. Reno seemed to be relishing the fact that his weapon made Tifa flinch, and was sparking creatures within her line of sight, sometimes mere inches from her. This made Barret wonder if Reno's sadistic side was showing and if maybe he was just taunting Cloud by threatening Tifa? Barret really couldn't see any other explanation.

He tried to ignore what was happening between his friends and focus on getting down the ledges and helping others down those that had been broken after they defeated Sephiroth. He reached up one particularly high ledge to allow Yuffie to hop down into his arm, but the young ninja refused the help, opting instead to land after doing a flip in the air. She looked up from the kneeling position in which she landed as if she were expecting some kind of applause for her acrobatics. Barret just rolled his eyes and assisted Vincent and Cid in getting Cait Sith to the lower ledge.

The deeper the group moved into the crater, the less there was left. What had once been a vertical labyrinth of ledges, walls, and caves was now barely recognizable. Some of the caves had collapsed when the crater was damaged, and there were few ledges left to traverse. Monsters were just falling straight down to the large rock formation below that used to provide a split path down into the crater. The center of the formation was gone, leaving only the straightforward path.

Tseng was carefully navigating the remaining ledges to get to the old fork while dodging falling beasts. He reached out for Elena's hand, urging her to jump. As she was crossing to him, a bandersnatch fell from above and took her down with it.

"Elena!" Tseng yelled instinctively before quickly making his way down to the rock formation where she landed.

He pulled the bandersnatch off of her as it kicked its arms and legs to right itself, clawing at Elena in the meantime. The creature ran to catch up with the other fiends continuing lower. Tseng again offered Elena a hand to help her stand. Her suit was dirty, and a little blood trickled from her busted lip, but she otherwise seemed fine.

Cloud jumped down from the lowest ledge to the rock formation, which was a pretty formidable distance. He looked back up to see Tifa attempting to climb down the rocky wall rather than risk a leap. Cloud kept his eyes on her as she carefully made her way down, his muscles tensing each time she found a foothold that seemed less than steady.

Reno wasn't too far behind her on the wall, finding it a less objectionable option than jumping forty feet down. He too, kept his eye on Tifa, and quickly made his way beside her. She clearly wasn't used to rock climbing, but with Reno's agility, he was a natural.

"You okay there?" he asked her as he slowed to match her speed.

"Just dandy," she responded, lamenting the fact that they would probably have to climb back up the wall on their way out.

"Just go at your own pace," Reno offered. "Don't worry that I'm about to smoke ya."

With that, he pressed on, soon lower than her on the wall, a fact he did not let go to waste. Several times as he hastened to the ground he looked up to see up her skirt, first noting that Cloud's eyes were locked on her – possibly for the same reason – and so he probably wouldn't notice Reno's leering. The red head hopped the last few feet to join Cloud, Tseng, and Elena, putting his hands in his pockets and joining his comrades away from the wall. Elena gave him a sorrowful look, to which he rolled his eyes and turned to the trail of monsters heading deeper underground. Better to get a head start on the fighting than stand around and get caught gawking or deal with Elena's emotions. Rude, thankfully, soon joined him, as Tifa stayed behind to wait with Cloud, killing any creatures that fell in the meantime.

Reno was disturbed when they entered the glowing green cavern. The sight of raw Lifestream made him anxious. He had heard about what happened to Cloud and Tifa in the Lifestream, and he did not want anyone to see into _his_ mind. Especially not Tifa. Thankfully, for him, they soon entered another dark cave that didn't glow. It was another grind, as rock ledges that had once existed had been either smashed or blown apart. Not that the Turks would know, since they hadn't been this deep in the crater. Tseng had been leading on instinct at first but had now fallen back to let Cloud and Tifa show them the way.

Yuffie was trying to keep toward the front of the group. For one thing, she found Vincent and Nanaki quite boring after spending so much time with them in Cosmo Canyon and the Forgotten Capital. She was _much_ more interested in what was going on with Tifa and her boys. Yuffie didn't presently have a real crush on anyone at the moment, so she was living vicariously through her brunette friend. Her father had been trying to set her up with men from respectable families in Wutai for the past two years, but the guys bored the young ninja. No one could excite her like she had been while traveling with AVALANCHE to fight Sephiroth. She needed someone who could inject that kind of excitement into her life again. To be honest she had, at one point, a little crush on Cloud during their adventure, but that quickly disappeared when she realized he wasn't interested.

While she didn't want Tifa ultimately to get hurt, she wanted to see what would happen when Cloud and Reno were in the same room – or crater – together. Tifa obviously hadn't told Cloud about Reno, or the redhead would probably be dead, Yuffie thought. She kept up with her friend and watched as the two boys competed for her attention. Cloud had been busy slashing anything that came within feet of Tifa, while Reno tried to dodge the Ultima Weapon and carve out his own protective space for the bartender. Yuffie could also tell that it was agitating Tifa, who was trying to contribute to the mission but kept finding herself with nothing to fight since Cloud and Reno were killing everything near her. It was annoying Yuffie, too, who was left to take on the creatures behind Tifa that the boys weren't killing. She was thankful for the rockslide that destroyed part of the spiral path since it significantly decreased the number of fiends behind them.

Now they were facing the narrow rock path that ran alongside a waterfall of Lifestream. The weaker parts of the path had broken two years ago, causing some minor gaps that were easy enough to jump across. Because the path had narrowed since they dropped into the crater proper, it was easier to contend with the fiends. The groups were now able to conserve strength by switching up who was leading, since it no longer took twelve people to cut through the hordes. Cid, Nanaki, and Cait Sith were currently taking the brunt of the beasts, while everyone else caught stragglers.

It had been an exhausting grind into the crater thus far, and the young ninja wanted a break. She knew they were close to the bottom, and since the monsters were thinning out (she supposed a lot of them were getting pushed off ledges into the Livestream below), she plopped down on a smooth rock just off the fiend trail.

"Can we take a break, please?" she asked before the others noticed her absence. Vincent shrugged and walked over to lean against a nearby wall, supposing now was the only time they could take a break before they encountered Jenova. Cloud and Tifa soon joined, as did Barret.

The Turks looked at AVALANCHE skeptically. Reno decided it was best to stay away from his old enemies, as any time near Cloud and Tifa may prompt him to say something he would later regret. In his head he could see himself casually walking up to her in front of all her friends, bending her over, and ramming her from behind. How he'd love to see the look on blondie's face were that to happen.

Fighting alongside AVALANCHE had been a real struggle, as he had to fight every instinct not to make belittling comments toward Cloud or suggestive remarks toward Tifa. It was exhausting. Well, at least it was slightly better than the helicopter ride from Midgar, where Shotgun chewed him out non-stop for all of his misdeeds and his most recent sin of trying to teach her how to fly the chopper properly.

Reno stuffed his hands in his pockets, slouched his shoulders, and walked languidly to an area a few feet away from the goody-two-shoes group. His fellow Turks followed.

Rude had cringed when Reno trapped Tifa in the pyramid earlier, thinking for a moment that his friend was taking his frustration out on her. The look in the redhead's eye as he turned back around to keep fighting, however, let Rude know Reno had matured. A few months ago, the hotheaded Turk would have been boasting to Cloud about how he bed "his woman," but Reno had been tame. To Rude, it was yet more evidence that the past two months chasing Tifa had softened his partner in ways he hadn't thought possible. Reno was now playing a very different game. Still dangerous, but one he had no experience in winning. Of Reno's many vices, gambling had never been a successful one.

Elena had been torn. She had lied somewhat to Reno when she had told him the other day that no one wanted him to change. While she meant what she said about wanting him to be happy, she did like the more subdued Reno that had been growing the past two months. For starters, she was glad not to hear about all the sick things he did to random women on a nightly basis. Not that she enjoyed _literally_ hearing the things he did to Tifa, but Reno hadn't been bragging about his time with the brunette barmaid.

She had been rooting for him when she told him not to give up, but after hearing Cloud's story of nearly dying in order to get back to Tifa, well, she didn't think Reno stood much of a shot. Reno had shown himself to be a little thoughtful, maybe even romantic, but Elena just didn't see how he could compete with Cloud at this point. She, like the other Turks, had assumed Cloud left because he was really in love with that dead Cetra girl, or simply didn't love Tifa enough. But, now…

She didn't know what would happen to Reno if Tifa chose Cloud over him. She had assumed, like the other Turks, that he would be taunting Cloud over his relationship with Tifa, but he wasn't. She had never seen Reno heartbroken, never _known_ Reno to have been heartbroken. Would he have a burn-it-all-down attitude? Would he try to destroy Cloud and Tifa? Would he… cry? She would have assumed he would make it his life mission to bag every woman in Edge and beyond (present company excluded – she hoped) to get back at Tifa, but maybe the whole experience would soften him, open up to the idea that there was more to life than sex and alcohol.

Her descent into the crater was not spent thinking too much about Reno, however. She was instead mostly focused on making sure Tseng wasn't hurt. She knew her boss kept up with his training, but he had been doing mostly desk work the past few years, overseeing her and her colleagues. It didn't look like he had missed a step though, but she wasn't about to take that chance.

Tseng could not be bothered to care about Reno's relationship with a member of AVALANCHE any more than he had already shown by playing him the tape. He was here on a mission – his first one involving intentional fighting in years. He needed to concentrate on that – and making sure Elena stayed safe, which he briefly failed at just a few hours ago. He knew from experience that fraternizing with a target was a bad idea. He thought he was keeping Aeris safe by refusing to do his job and take her to Shinra. After she died, however, he wondered if maybe she would have been safer at Shinra. The thought had crossed his mind regularly over the past two years since her death, but each time he came to the conclusion that Hojo would have tortured her likely to death long before she would have ever met up with Cloud and AVALANCHE. Her death still weighed heavily on him, so part of him commiserated with Cloud in that regard. And just like Cloud, Tseng had someone else in his life now to care about.

"I'm staying here until that thing is really dead this time," Cloud said to no one in particular, though his voice was low enough so that only the nearby AVALANCHE members heard him.

Tifa looked up at him with understanding eyes and a supportive smile. He hadn't needed to say it; they all felt the same way. There would be no mistakes this time. They hadn't thought they had failed the last time they were here, what with witnessing Sephiroth's destruction, but clearly, they had missed something.

"I think when we fought Sephiroth it was his will and his cells that we fought, even though Jenova was a part of him," Nanaki said, lifting his head from the ground. "We destroyed the Sephiroth part, while the Jenova part remained separate."

"As long as it's really over this time," Cloud said, looking straight forward.

He let his teammates rest a few for minutes before he rose to his feet. The Turks took notice as well.

"Everyone," Cloud said, looking at his friends and then back over his shoulder to the Turks, "we've been through this before, but Sephiroth was a human injected with Jenova cells. Jenova is an alien – one we've fought before – so we know what we have to do. But I don't want anyone thinking this will be easy. We're all here for a reason. Keep your guard up, look out for each other, and don't back down."

Reno rolled his eyes as Cloud spoke. Was this what AVALANCHE did before big fights? Have they always done this? He stifled a laugh as he thought of those saps – even Tifa – all sitting around gaping at Cloud while he gave lame pep talks. All Tseng said before a mission was "Don't get killed," and that was good enough for him. It'd worked so far.

Reno slowly stood up along with his fellow Turks. They filed into the next cave along with AVALANCHE, but with an arrogance about them – they didn't need their leader to get them ready for a fight. Reno wore a grin on his face until he saw what awaited them in the next cavern. The rock was a different color – golden brown – than what he'd seen before down here, but while AVALANCHE spread out along the path that ran around the wall, Reno stopped in the entranceway, mesmerized by the almost blinding green light coming from the hole in the center of the cavern. Below, he could see floating debris and what he could only imagine at this point was the core of the planet. Hell, he didn't remember Gaia-science class, for all he knew the planet could be hollow or filled with molten rock, or, inhabited by an alien that crashed into it thousands of years ago. As he continued to gaze to their next destination, he realized he was pressing himself pretty heavily against the rock wall. Now he was thankful for that break – it was his last few minutes of peace before he not only would have to fight Jenova, but fighting it in _that_.

The members of AVALANCHE silently nodded to one another, prepared to retrace their steps from years ago and battle Jenova where it still lived. It was here where they realized why the monster trail never stopped. Those that made it this far were simply… falling into the crevasse and getting absorbed into Jenova, which was considerably larger now than they had ever seen it before. It did not look like the versions they had fought while chasing Sephiroth years ago. It most resembled Jenova-SYNTHESIS, but much more frightening. The freakish head was attached to a round but armored body about three times larger than SYNTHESIS. The two tentacles in the front had been joined by dozens of others protruding from all over its body, each one with three long, slender, and sharp fingers. It was quite horrific, resembling some kind of mutant puffer fish just waiting for its prey. A new tentacle would appear after enough monsters were absorbed, and the group of fighters wondered how much bigger it could get if _all_ of its cells were rejoined.

Cloud took a step toward the center of the cavern but fell to his knees with the pain of another migraine. He hadn't suffered one since his speech on the Highwind. He thought he wouldn't get one while in the Northern Crater. Perhaps Jenova had that ability. If so, he was going to be useless during this fight.

Tifa crouched next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. When he was able to, he reached his hand across his chest to rest on hers and rolled his head so that his forehead pressed against her own.

"Stay with me," he whispered.


	36. Kindling

**Chapter 36:**

**A/N: Rated M for language and violence.**

**The critical reviews on the last article really brought me down – **_**because**_** they were so spot on. I fucked up. Two months was not enough time to build a relationship for Tifa and Reno. This is the first piece of fiction I've written in nearly two decades, and I fucked it up. It didn't matter that Cloud had pulled away for months before, or that Reno was helpful and around; two months simply isn't enough time.**

**If I had to do it all over again I would make it much, much longer than two months, have Tifa go looking for Cloud more than her trip to the church, searching while in the helicopter and on the Highwind, and hoping to find him when she finally went to the Forgotten Capital. My plan was to deal with the issues that would keep her and Reno apart and I didn't do that well enough. I'm sorry.**

**This does not mean that I am abandoning this fic. I will keep pressing on. Maybe I'll go back and fix it when it's all over. Please do NOT go after the reviewers in the comments, I **_**agree**_** with what they said, and they were respectful in their comments. I've known for a while now that two months was too short a time for Cloud to be gone, but the story kept moving forward and I got trapped to that timeline. I know from personal experience you don't just move on from someone that quickly unless they do something unforgiveable (in which case you hate them but you still hurt for a while) or something monumental changes in your own life (this, uh, probably does not happen to most people).**

**For those that have read this story and walked away with this same feeling, I'm sorry. To those who still like this story, don't worry, it'll continue.**

Chapter 36:

Yuffie's eyes flickered open blearily, her vision blurred as she struggled to figure out where she was. She scrunched her eyes closed as pain echoed in her head, a deafening scream seemingly stabbing her from within. She couldn't make out anything in front of her besides clusters of colors, her vision doubled, vague, undefined forms traveling toward each other but then sliding back apart. She tried to focus on the smudges she saw at some distance in front of her, beyond a field of light brown and bright green. Ahead of her were three forms she assumed were not part of the scenery – one navy blue and dark brown with a speck of white, another orange and red, and the third dark blue and black with some white.

She closed her eyes again, opening and then closing them again several more times until she could finally focus on her surroundings. She had been thrown from the pit where AVALANCHE was fighting Jenova and was now slumped against the back wall of the cavern above. Every bone in her body ached. Her legs stretched out in front of her as she hunched over, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her palms upturned on the rocky surface beneath her.

Across the pit illuminated by the Lifestream lay Cid, Nanaki, and Tseng. Yuffie let her head roll to the left, allowing her to see Cait Sith, Elena, and Barret. To her right, Reno and Vincent. Cloud, Tifa, and Rude were still down in the pit fighting Jenova. Yuffie could hear the creature's screeches, the sound of metal meeting flesh, and the cries and grunts of her friends – and Rude – as they labored on.

Everyone who had been thrown back above looked just as beaten as Yuffie; barely moving, crumpled in varying positions around the pit in the center. She couldn't even remember how they all got back up there, but she figured it was not voluntary.

_Flashback…_

Tifa helped Cloud back to his feet after the blinding headache took hold of him. Of the hundreds, possibly thousands of headaches he had over the past year, he could honestly say this was the worst. Now that he could _see_ Jenova, the pain seemed to be worse. It felt as if Jenova's tentacles were inside his skull, the sharp fingers clawing at his brain and damaging his senses.

While AVALANCHE waited as their fearless leader recovered, the Turks' body language yet again showed annoyance. Reno and Rude had their arms crossed, Elena had shifted her weight to one leg, sticking her hip out, and Tseng prepared his weapon. The four Turks exchanged quiet nods before Tseng said simply, "Don't get killed." With that, he jumped down into the pit, followed quickly by his three underlings.

Cloud did a double take when he heard the grunts and saw the forms of his four former adversaries disappear into the space below. He wasn't used to people charging in before him. Typically, he rushed in, slashing wildly, cutting through minions or drawing the attention of the main foe, while everyone else followed to back him up. He briefly looked at Tifa, then the other members of AVALANCHE, before drawing his sword and leaping below.

As he had asked, Tifa stayed close, attacking the tentacles that tried to claw Cloud away from Jenova's center mass. She grabbed one that was raking its sharp talons along his back and pulled it hard before grasping it with her other hand and twisting until she heard a squishing tear. The end of the tentacle tore from its shaft, still squirming. Tifa snapped each of the fingers off and threw it behind her. She grabbed two more tentacles and stretched them to full length, jumping off the floating debris and twisting up to kick the body of Jenova before flipping over and ripping the tentacles from its body.

Cloud was slicing off tentacles left and right in order to get to the alien's head. Whenever he came close to the creature, a new tentacle seemed to appear and push him back several feet. He would slice it off and continue forward only to have two more tentacles grab him by each arm and fling him away. Angered, he got to his feet and charged toward Jenova's face, his sword ready to stab it through the head. As he approached close enough to stare into its eyes, he could see its pupils contract to a feline sliver, instantly causing blinding pain to shoot through Cloud's head. He fell to his knees again, thinking his head was about to explode, as two tentacles slowly slithered to either side of him before encircling each of his arms. Jenova tilted its head as if studying Cloud and lifted him off the ground. He was in too much pain to put up a fight, but he still struggled. The tentacles began to pull him closer to the creature and Cloud felt as though his blood was about to be ripped from his body.

Tifa noticed the current situation and rushed to his help, as did Barret, who was standing to Cloud's left. Barret opened fire on the tentacle holding Cloud's left arm, while Tifa dealt a series of devastating blows to the other one. Barret's bullets quickly ripped through the left tentacle and another one took its place. Another appendage snaked its way behind Barret and quickly wrapped around his waist, constricting until he gasped for air and stopped firing. When Tifa broke through the other tentacle, yet another grabbed her by the leg and slung her back into the Lifestream wall.

Meanwhile, Cloud was getting pulled closer to Jenova, the pain throughout his body becoming excruciating. He wondered how he hadn't been ripped limb from limb yet or shattered from the inside out. Cid and Nanaki came to his sides to replace Barret and Tifa, trying to rip through the tentacles that gripped Cloud. They succeeded simultaneously, and Cloud retreated a few feet to catch his breath. Jenova seemed focused on him. It must have sensed the cells in his body and been trying to get him to merge into it. He was going to have to change tactics if he was going to fight it and stay alive.

Before he could stand back up, the fiend was floating toward him, even as AVALANCHE and the Turks had continued attacking.

"Attack the tentacles!" Cloud yelled as the creature was upon him again.

He knew Tifa was no longer beside him, but he didn't have a second to look for her as the beast was desperately trying to get his cells reunited with its own. He switched up his sword pattern to shred the tentacles as they reached for him. Until those tentacles were destroyed, he wouldn't be able to get near its face.

Tifa's body hit the Lifestream waterfall as if she had fallen on her back into a body of water from a decent distance. Her limbs felt like they were on fire even though she was surrounded by cool, green liquid.

"You don't belong here," Tifa heard Aeris' voice.

Tifa opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by the Lifestream. She quickly closed her eyes again, not wanting to see the faces of those she had lost again. She heard the screams of the dead and tried to swim for air, not knowing which direction she needed to go.

Suddenly she felt something solid beneath her feet and she was able to stand. She opened her eyes, no longer feeling like she was wet or swimming. All around her, for as far as she could see, was white. No walls, no floor, nothing but white. She spun around as she sensed the presence of another person. When she stopped, she was face to face with her old friend. Aeris' lips curled into a smile, and her wide, emerald eyes brightened.

"Looks like you've been having fun," she said.

There was no judgment or malice in her voice, but it still cut to the heart of Tifa's guilt. She blushed, embarrassed that her best friend knew of her indiscretions. Of _course_ Aeris knew, she was one with the planet. The silver lining was that Tifa now truly knew that Aeris was watching over her.

Tifa looked down at her feet and never-ending whiteness beneath her. How could Aeris seem so accepting, even knowing the feelings that were tugging at Tifa's heart this very moment. Aeris noticed her friend's distress and sighed audibly. Tifa looked up at her friend, who stood mere feet away with her arms outstretched, motioning for Tifa to embrace her in a hug. Tifa tried to force a smile and step toward her friend, extending her own arms.

She splashed out of the Lifestream and fell several feet to the rocky ground below. Her body no longer hurt, and she realized she wasn't in pain from the fall, having landed on something softer than rock. She scrambled to her feet to find Reno beneath her. Embarrassed, she stepped away from him, her back coming dangerously close to re-entering the Lifestream.

"What the?" she asked.

"Ow, babe," Reno said, rubbing his shoulder before he stood up. "Some thank you."

Tifa realized that Aeris had been instructing her to move forward and reach out for Reno, who was trying to get to her out of the Lifestream.

While Cloud had been struggling to avoid getting sucked into Jenova, Reno noticed Tifa get thrown back into the Lifestream. He glanced at Cloud to see that he was contending with Jenova and that AVALANCHE seemed to be helping him, so Reno sprinted toward Tifa to help her. She was too high up in the Lifestream for him to reach her to pull her out. He was mentally preparing himself to dive in to save her – trying to suppress his fears of what he would see while in there – when she suddenly burst out of the liquid and crashed onto him. It was as if she were shoved back toward Jenova.

Tifa looked toward Jenova to see her friends battling the tentacles that were trying to grab Cloud. She watched as one of the appendages Cloud sliced through flew behind him and fell to the ground, where it flopped around like a fish out of water for a moment before slithering back toward Jenova to be absorbed by the monster.

"Oh my God," she said when she realized what was happening. She thanked Reno quickly before taking off back toward her friends.

Reno stood back watching her run away, stunned that his chivalry hadn't seemed to register with her.

"Stop fighting the tentacles!" Tifa yelled as she returned to AVALANCHE. "Jenova's absorbing them back."

"The hell?" Barret asked as he continued blasting away at a pair of tentacles working their way toward Cloud.

"It's pointless," Tifa said. She was covered in a faint green slime, soaked with the Lifestream. "Its just merging with them. We're wasting our time."

"Then how the fuck are we supposed to fight this thing?" Cid asked, still stabbing at appendages with his spear.

"Magic?" Tifa suggested. "Try to get at the core, I guess."

Cloud shot her a glance and nodded quickly. He backed away from Jenova, dodging tentacles, and concentrated. The green glow of the LIfestream was replaced by a clouded purple sky as ancient runes dotted the area around Jenova. The floor beneath the creature turned black, speckled with stars. A strong gust of wind began blowing upward, and soon the fiend was surrounded in darkness. One by one, twelve giant knights appeared and struck Jenova before flying away into the ether.

When it was over, Jenova opened its mouth and let out an ear-shattering shriek so forceful the fighters around it were pushed back several feet.

Yuffie had started the fight by throwing her Conformer to sever a few tentacles. She repeated this several times but saw no point as there seemed to be too many of them. Besides, she was all too happy to switch to materia. She blasted Jenova with Meteor, Flare, and Firaga. She summoned Shiva and Bahamut. While she knew she was injuring the monster, it didn't seem to weaken. She downed an ether and kept up the magical barrage, trying to keep her friends cured as best she could.

Yuffie could tell someone on the other side of Jenova was also casting spells, though she couldn't see who. Elena was trying to keep her fellow Turks healed while bombarding Jenova with Blizzaga and Bio. She stood beside Tseng as he fired his gun at the creature's core. When Cloud called for everyone to attack the tentacles, the Turks begrudgingly obliged. Tseng changed his aim to the base of one of the appendages until he shot straight through it, dropping it from the body.

Rude had been attacking Jenova just as Tifa was, ripping off tentacles with his considerable strength and using them as leverage to launch himself at the monster's armored core. While he was working on dismembering two appendages, another quickly wrapped around his waist and slung him back into Reno and Tseng, dropping them all to the floor in a pile.

"Ugh, what the hell is that thing's problem?" Reno asked as he returned to his feet.

"Pretty sure it doesn't want to die," Tseng informed him before again shooting at the creature.

Reno snarled and turned to run back at the monster, cursing as he emptied his pistol into it and raised his mag rod to strike. He drove the EMR into the base of one tentacle as another slapped him across the face.

"You bitch!" He yelled as he twisted the mag rod into the beast's flesh, digging a hole in its skin and electrocuting the wound.

With everyone else giving the creature all they had, it didn't have time to notice any specific pain. Its tentacles just kept flinging fighters away as they attacked regardless of who was doing the most damage at any one moment.

Vincent, like Tseng, was emptying the Death Penalty into Jenova before reloading and firing again. A tentacle reached out to smack his weapon away while another one swiped him through the air to land on his backside several feet away. While no one would ever dare laugh at Vincent Valentine, his loss of balance, combined with the hits he had taken thus far, caused him to start feeling rage. He knew immediately what was happening as his body began to swell and fill with heat. The fire he felt inside manifested itself all around him, signaling to his AVALANCHE friends what was about to come.

In an instant, Vincent seemed to vanish as Chaos stretched out, extending its wings and roaring to warn all in its path. It flew into the air above Jenova and leaned back as if taking a deep breath before releasing a powerful cry that sliced several tentacles from the monster's body in horrifying fashion. The demon then flew directly at Jenova, clawing at its core and ripping out appendages as the monster tried in vain to pull Chaos away. For a moment when Vincent returned to normal it looked like Chaos had done some major damage to Jenova. A large section of its body had become devoid of tentacles, and a bloody wound covered the area. Vincent, who never quite knew the extent of his actions as Chaos, looked pleased with himself as he stepped back to reload his gun. But when he looked back up to start shooting, the wound appeared to have disappeared and several tentacles had already grown back. Vincent said nothing, but Nanaki had been fighting next to him at the time and noticed the drastic and quick regrowth.

"That's… not good," Nanaki said.

He would have tried to bounce theories off of Vincent as they fought alongside each other, but it was at that moment that Tifa was thrown into the Lifestream and Cloud was being pulled toward Jenova, so Nanaki had to step in to free the blond swordsman.

Yuffie saw Tifa flying through the air and started toward her, but quickly noticed that Reno was already sprinting in that direction. Just as she passed around to the front of Jenova, she heard Barret scream in pain after being squeezed by one of the tentacles. Yuffie snapped around quickly to cast a cure spell on him, and by the time she was again heading toward Tifa, Reno already had her.

Cait Sith was trying to alternate between curative spells and physical attacks, but as the battle wore on, he switched to trying to help the party recover. By the time Cloud cast Knights of the Round on Jenova, Cait Sith was feeling depleted and woozy. He looked around at his colleagues, who were starting to tire as well. He didn't have enough strength to cure everyone and was turning to Yuffie to ask for an ether when Jenova stopped moving.

Cid stopped attacking for a moment to look over at Cloud, who was also frozen with anticipation. The blond swordsman recovered quickly and ran toward Jenova as it floated almost motionlessly with its eyes closed, its tentacles pulled back and no longer attacking. As Cloud was about to bring his mighty sword down across the monster's head, the entire party heard the familiar ear-piercing screech of Ultima. The entire area was bathed in a warm green light, which quickly heated up to an intense burning followed by a tremendous blast that threw every Turk and member of AVALANCHE up and back out of the pit, scattering them around the upper cavern like rag dolls.

Rude opened his eyes to find his sunglasses had fallen. He was in so much pain he couldn't even move his arms or hands to look for them and instead let his head fall to the left to find Tifa next to him, lying on her side and not moving. Rude stared at her for a moment, partly due to the fact that moving would have been incredibly painful, but mostly to make sure he could see her breathing. Fearful, he strained to reach into his pocket, wincing as he did so, and dug out a potion. He was too weak to get to her, so he had to use it on himself so he could get to her and give her one of his few remaining bottles.

When he felt slightly better, he let himself fall to his side and crawled on his elbows over to where she lay, hearing the distinctive sound of breaking sunglasses beneath him as he did so. He reached for his last potion and gently pushed Tifa onto her back so he could pour the potion into her mouth. She coughed as the liquid hit her throat and gasped, sitting up and clutching her chest. She looked down to see Rude lying next to her, the bottle still pressed between his fingers.

She looked around to see just about everyone she knew lying limply on the hard, rocky surface. Below, Jenova seemed to be unscathed, despite everything they had done so far. She reached into her own pocket to retrieve an ether, which she promptly consumed. No longer feeling dizzy, she placed a hand on Rude's shoulder and concentrated. Soon they were both engulfed with multi-colored sparkling lights dancing all around them, lifting their energy and healing their wounds.

With herself healed and Rude repaid for his kindness, Tifa looked over her shoulder to see Cloud lying a few feet away, leaning against the back wall of the cavern. He wasn't moving, but his eyes were scrunched tight and Tifa knew instantly he was in the midst of another headache and was suffering through it without being able to move – not that anything he did helped.

She scrambled over to him and cast Curaga on him. It wouldn't help his head pain, but at least he'd be able to move his limbs. Tifa cuddled against him for support until he recovered.

"I'm okay," he said when the pain stopped, searching their surroundings to determine where he was. "We have to get back in there."

"But nothing's working, Cloud," Tifa informed him. "Jenova seems fine, but look around, everyone's struggling."

"I know, but… we have to keep trying."

Cloud stood up and offered a hand to Tifa. He gave her a sorrowful look through heavy-lidded eyes. Tifa tilted her head and attempted to smile, though her eyes still conveyed the sadness of someone who knew the future didn't look bright.

Without another word, Cloud leapt down into the pit again, sword angled directly at Jenova's head. The creature easily swatted him away as Tifa joined him down below. Again Jenova reached for Cloud. Tifa spun around to bring the full force of her heel into one of the tentacles encircling Cloud's arm, breaking clear through it. The other appendage gripped his arm tighter, wrenching him forward. Before Tifa could get to it, Rude dropped down from above, landing on the tentacle at its weakest point and ripping it from Cloud.

"Thanks," the blond responded before continuing his onslaught.

_Present moment…_

Yuffie felt as though she could pass out again but used what little will she had left to concentrate on her armor. Within seconds, small green sparkles, like tiny fireworks, appeared and quickly disappeared all around her. The weak cure spell didn't help much, but it was enough to give her the strength to stagger to her feet, using the cavern wall for support.

She reached into her satchel to retrieve an ether. Feeling a bit stronger, she fished out her only megaelixir. She'd never seen it used on a group as large as what was left, but she saw it as their only hope right now. She uncorked the bottle and threw it high into the air. The result was… not what she wanted. Instead of healing everyone fully, it only worked at half strength.

She looked around to see everyone left up above slowly start to wake up and realize the trouble they were all in. The megaelixir hadn't done enough to get them back into fighting condition, and it was her only one. She had a few more ethers left, but if she started to fully heal everyone around the pit, she would surely run out. But if she _didn't_ help heal, everyone would be useless. She reached into her satchel to grab another ether, ready to down the battle and do everything in her power to get everyone else back in the game, when she heard a familiar voice echo off the cavern walls.

"Maybe this will help." It was Aeris' soft, sweet voice.

Yuffie looked around as if she would see her dearly departed friend in the cave with them, but all she saw were her friends – and the Turks, which she didn't hate any more but certainly wasn't ready to put in the same category as she would put AVALANCHE. To her, it seemed everyone had heard Aeris' voice, as they all seemed to be looking around for something. As they looked high and low for the source of melodic voice, a gust of wind encircled the cavern counterclockwise, bathing the party in a warm green glow as white healing light lifted their spirits and mended their wounds.

Yuffie closed her eyes and let her lips part with a soft breath as she felt her energy return. She, along with the others around her, were able to rise to their feet. The members of AVALANCHE understood immediately what had happened, but Reno and Elena were a little confused. The two looked at each other with questioning expressions and then turned to Tseng, who had a smile on his face.

"Aeris," he said, almost under his breath.

Elena and Reno again looked shocked, but Elena's confusion quickly turned to a snarl. It had taken her two years to get Tseng over that Ancient girl, but he finally was. Now she feared all those old feeling would come back and she would be left out in the cold.

Reno visibly shook from the spooky feeling that the ghost girl had just touched everyone. No thank you.

Cid, who was across the pit from Yuffie, had an unobstructed view of the entrance to the cavern. Monsters continued to trail in from beyond, walking into the pit and falling down to Jenova, where they were absorbed into the mass. He knew this had been happening while they were down there fighting, but it hadn't dawned on him until now that even 12 of the world's best fighters might not be able to compete with the cell regeneration taking place at a steady pace. Cid's eyes widened with the realization, and he called out.

"We have to stop the fuckin' monsters!" He yelled, quickly walking around the pit – Venus Gospel drawn – toward the entrance. He stabbed the next beast that entered, a crawler, and readied himself to strike any more that came into the cavern. "They're healing the Goddamned monster," he added.

"The Turks will handle it," Tseng spoke up. As he did so, however, he caught out of the corner of his eye Reno jumping down into the pit. Tseng looked back at Cid. "Um, the Turks will help. Elena can heal."

"Alright," Cid said with a nod of his head. "Nanaki, you stay up here with me, the rest of you get down there and help Cloud!"

The other members of AVALANCHE nodded in agreement and hopped into the pit to help a rejuvenated Cloud, Tifa, and Rude.

Cid did his best to simply keep the monsters back by threatening them with his spear. It made a couple monsters take a step back, but whatever Jenova was using to draw them in at this point made their instincts fail. They were soon walking straight into Cid's spear, pushing him back, in an effort to get to the pit. Cid and Nanaki viciously attacked those that tried to squeeze through the entrance, while Tseng dealt final blows to those that made it past and handled any stragglers. Elena concentrated solely on keeping everyone healed, figuring it was best right now to save her strength and let the others do the actual fighting.

Back down in the pit, Cloud caught a glimpse of Jenova's changed expression. For an instant, the alien looked ever so nervous when it realized it was no longer absorbing reinforcements. Its widened eyes quickly narrowed at Cloud and the fiend hissed, sending fetid spittle onto his face. Cloud gagged and stepped back, the spit burning his skin. He looked around at his friends, all doing everything they could to take down this monster that was proving to be a far more difficult foe than even Sephiroth. Cloud was now convinced that Sephiroth really wasn't fighting at his full strength when they faced each other in this very place two years ago. Perhaps, though, Jenova cells could only go so far.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl in the instant Cloud looked around at everyone fighting on behalf of the planet – and to help him. He had been silently praying this entire time that destroying Jenova this time would end the planet's suffering and his own. He didn't want to have those cells in him anymore; he didn't want the headaches, or the pain, or the fear that made him feel guilty or like he needed to be away from everyone, especially since the person who was hurt most by everything he was going through was Tifa. He didn't want to let her down again.

Barret was firing endlessly at Jenova's core, his good arm folded under his gun arm to provide a stable base to aim. He was standing further back than most of his comrades, but Jenova's tentacles would still reach out to slap him back further. Each time he would get up and continue toward the monster, never wavering and never showing weakness.

Yuffie was alternating between throwing her Conformer and healing her friends. She had perfected an art where she would throw her weapon and cast a spell while waiting for the shuriken to return. Even with her boundless energy, this battle was weighing on her. She was spending so much time caring for other people that she let her own well-being slide. She was tiring, but it wasn't until she couldn't physically get back up that she would cast a Cure spell on herself.

She had really grown up since she fought with AVALANCHE two years ago. Back then, she was selfish and greedy, more concerned with herself and how much materia she could collect than with the party's mission.

Cait Sith was standing perfectly still, at first seeming like he had broken down. After a moment, the little cat grinned and the image of the woman painted on the side of the Highwind appeared out of thin air just above him. Everyone around Jenova was suddenly, briefly engulfed in a transparent heart. Cait Sith returned to casting high-level spells on Jenova, never missing.

Vincent, like Barret, was firing his weapon at Jenova – at least until his magazine was empty. He'd reload and fire again, throwing a potion or ether to anyone who needed one in between.

Rude was flying through the air, kicking and punching Jenova and doing his best to avoid the tentacles. He, too, was tiring again as the party was reduced to limited healing items. Rude tried his best to keep the tentacles away from Tifa and Reno while not ripping them off or spending too much time on them. It was difficult, but he was managing, even if it didn't look like Jenova was weakening.

Reno would stab Jenova's core with his EMR and hold it as long as he could until the beast would swat him away with an appendage. As he was flung back, he'd fire his weapon, then repeat the process. He was keeping close to Tifa to ensure she wouldn't accidentally be targeted by the monster or thrown into the LIfestream again. He knew she was focusing on helping Cloud, but the blond was focusing on Jenova.

Finally, Cloud looked to his right at Tifa, who had stayed by his side this entire fight. He watched as she attacked the tentacles that tried to wrap around him on her way to smashing the alien's body. Watching her fight had always been mesmerizing to him. She might as well have been a ballerina floating through the air, but she had the force of a truck. And through it all, she was as gentle and caring a person as Cloud had ever met.

A simple smile graced his lips when he looked at her, knowing how hard she was fighting for him. His smile quickly turned to a frown when he came to the conclusion that they were really not getting anywhere with this creature, and their strength and supplies were running low.

Cloud looked straight forward at Jenova's head, which the alien had been vehemently protecting this entire time. Cloud had not been able to get a single hit on its face, and he realized that was the only answer.

"Tifa…" he said, knowing that she would protest to what he was going to say.

"Yeah?" she asked, glancing over at him quickly but returning to the fight.

"Stop," Cloud responded solemnly.

Tifa stepped back from Jenova and looked at him with wide, questioning eyes.

"What?" she asked. "Why?"

Cloud gave her a sorrowful look and turned to Barret on his left.

"Barret, stand down," he told his friend.

"Huh?" Barret asked, ignoring Cloud's request and continuing to fire.

"Barret, stop. There's nothing more you can do."

Tifa and Barret continued to stare at Cloud before Tifa realized what he was saying.

"Cloud, no!" she pleaded.

"It's the only way," the swordsman responded.

He let his arms drop to his sides, still gripping the handle of his sword as it dragged on the ground. Cloud took a deep breath and locked eyes with Jenova as the beast sent several tentacles to encircle Cloud's waist.

Tifa instinctively lunged toward Cloud, extending her hand in a futile attempt to hold him back from getting sucked into Jenova. She felt an arm around her waist, pulling her back. She struggled against the force, kicking and flailing her arms to free herself.

Reno tightened his grip on her and brought his other arm around her chest to restrain her arms. Tifa continued to scream obscenities at him to let her go and kick his shins as he dragged her back away from what was about to happen. He knew she was angry with him, but he also knew she needed to be held back to let Cloud do what he was going to do. Reno hated Cloud at that moment more than he ever had before. Sacrificing himself? Really?

Reno knew it was a disgusting thought, but he hated that Cloud's sacrifice would mean Tifa would love _him_ forever, and the Turk would never be able to compare. Part of him wanted to let Tifa go to see if she would stop Cloud, but it was also the first time he was able to hold her since the blond pansy came back.

Barret watched in horror as Jenova slowly pulled Cloud toward it. The other members of AVALANCHE – and Rude – had slowly taken notice that some had stopped fighting and walked around the creature to see what was going on. They could still hear the sounds of those fighting above the pit, but the scene down below felt heavy with silence.

Cloud struggled as the creature bound his arms with additional tentacles. As he neared its body, he could feel his insides being pulled. The Jenova cells were being drawn out and he screamed as his blood again felt like it was about to be ripped from within him. He let the pain fill him with rage and kept Tifa in his heart. He was doing this to save her and everyone else on the planet. He couldn't fail.

Those watching could see the beginning of Cloud's merge with Jenova. Specks of flesh and blood were being torn from Cloud and sucked into the monster. Within seconds, he would be gone forever. Tifa knew what his plan was but couldn't understand how it would work. Would he be able to destroy Jenova after merging with it? She couldn't imagine a scenario where he would come back to her. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she watched him start to disappear into the alien.

Cloud was at the point where he could feel Jenova's hot breath on his face when his rage and adrenaline finally boiled over. As the creature continued to pull him toward it, he let out a low, menacing growl. His arms began to shake within the tentacles, causing the fiend to pause in confusion for a moment. Cloud was then able to burst his arms free of the confines and bring his sword up in front of him, pointing it directly at Jenova's face.


	37. The Promised Land

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 37:

At the exact moment Cloud had broken his arms free of Jenova's tentacle binds, the creature recovered from its surprised stupor and realized what was about to happen. It pulled Cloud toward it at full speed and concentrated in order to attack his mind more viciously than ever before. The pain was excruciating, and Cloud let his sword drop in one hand while bringing the other up to his head as if that would help. He closed his eyes tight instinctively, even though he knew there was nothing he could do. This was it. Jenova had bested him, and he was now being pulled toward the creature at lightning speed.

What Cloud didn't see until he realized his cells hadn't fully merged with the creature's was that Zack had appeared once again, driving his own Buster sword into the monster's brain. Cloud opened his eyes to see his departed friend's sword deep in the fiend, and Cloud joined him with his own Ultima Weapon.

As soon as Zack's sword pierced the monster's head its entire body began to shake violently. The tentacles still wrapped around Cloud's waist were released, and with the merging of his cells stopped, he was able to drive his sword to the hilt through Jenova's head, right between its eyes. He wrenched the sword inside the monster's head to make sure it was good and dead as his feet landed on the ground again.

As the creature shook, the surrounding party members could see it start to crumble away. Instead of the usual green pyreflies that would leave the body of a deceased, floating upward as if swimming through the ocean only to dissipate, these were black. And instead of drifting toward the heavens, these dissolved like soot dropping from a clogged flue. Jenova would not return to the planet, because it was not of the planet. What remained of the creature that had created so much havoc for Gaia over thousands of years was a pile of black ash at the bottom of the deepest crater.

Its head turned a translucent red before suffering the same fate, the black dust falling around Cloud's sword, which he didn't have to remove. There was nothing left of the alien but cinders, which scattered around the area as a white wind encircled the fiend.

Cloud looked down at the pile of ash, hoping this was enough to destroy the monster. When the wind appeared, so did a bright light from above. The light caught Cloud's attention, along with Tifa's and everyone else's. They looked up as the light blinded them, causing them to shield their eyes.

Tifa looked over at Cloud when she noticed gray pyreflies rising out of him and no one else.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, fearful that he was disappearing along with Jenova.

Cloud realized in that moment what she was referring to and bent his elbows to look at his palms as gray orbs rose from him. He flipped his hands over and back again as the wisps floated upward. He looked around to realize that this was only happening to him. He closed his eyes, trying to hide what he was feeling as he, like Tifa, thought he had gotten too close to Jenova and that what had merged was now vanishing.

He lifted his head toward the bright light above, accepting his fate. He felt no pain, as he had when he was beginning to merge with Jenova thanks to the cells that had been implanted into his body. It didn't feel as though his insides were being ripped out; instead, it felt like a cool breeze was running through him, gently calling him to the planet.

Barret and everyone else slowly noticed what was happening as they stopped looking upwards at the light. Soft gasps could be heard from almost everyone. Yuffie was already crying and had brought her hands up to her mouth, shaking her head and silently mouthing the word "no" behind her hands. After everything that had happened, after everything they had gone through, they would be going on without Cloud. The planet owed its life to the blond, and it was bringing him home.

Tifa ran forward and draped her arms around Cloud's shoulder, refusing to let him go and crying into his shoulder. She had just gotten him back, and now she was watching him disappear in front of her eyes. Cloud gently brought his arms around her and held her close, tilting his head down to rest against hers. There were a million things he wanted to say to her, but he couldn't find his voice.

Reno reached out subtly to try and stop Tifa, but settled for crossing his arms and huffing. Let her have this last moment with the guy before he disappeared from their lives forever – again. He resigned himself to the notion that he would simply have to get over her attachment to Spike once he was gone. It wasn't exactly how he wanted to win this particular contest, but a win was a win.

For a few more moments the pyreflies rose from Cloud's body, but they didn't completely float into the light. As with Jenova, some soot began to rain down on and around him, revealing white light orbs that quickly disappeared.

Tifa continued to grip Cloud's shirt as everyone else gathered around. She could feel something light yet grimy falling on her skin, like sand at the beach. She sobbed as he held her, unintelligibly trying to beg him not to go.

She soon realized that whatever had coated her skin was no longer accumulating, and yet she could still feel the fabric of Cloud's shirt and the beat of his heart. She sniffled and lifted her head to see that he was still standing next to her, holding her. Pyreflies were no longer rising from him, but he was still whole. His face and skin were speckled with tiny wounds where the merger with Jenova began, but all in all, he was well. He even looked… brighter than Tifa had ever seen him look. It was as if the darkness that had been inside him all this time was finally removed.

As the light emanated from Cloud down in the pit, those above in the cavern witnessed something similar. The monsters they had been fighting back, that were so determined to end their lives by running into the pit and merging with Jenova, were suddenly docile. As with Cloud, dark pyreflies left their bodies, dancing into the sky and leaving behind a dusting of black ash.

Around the world, gray pyreflies were lifting from the monsters terrorizing each town. A family that had just sat down to dinner in Costa del Sol now watched out their picture window as strange light floated around the monsters that had made it impossible for them to leave their home the past few weeks. They, like others around the globe, felt a healing presence washing over Gaia. The monsters outside were continuing to thrash around when the pyreflies first appeared but had now calmed as though they had been domesticated. Instead of attacking the structures in town, they sniffed the air before lowering their heads. Their pupils, which had become cat-like slits while their Jenova cells were called to the crater, returned to normal, and the herbivores began to graze.

Elmyra had been hunkered down with Marlene in a hut in North Corel, fearing the end. The city had made a lot of progress in the past two years with Barret's guidance and money made from the oil fields, but that progress was slow. Many people still lived in tents and makeshift homes while waiting for the money to come in so that they could upgrade. As the monster population increased and became more erratic, many of those cheap homes had been destroyed. Barret hadn't upgraded his own home, deciding he would make sure everyone else in town was on their feet before taking care of himself.

The sounds of stomping hooves and feet outside the little hut where Elmyra and Marlene clung to each other suddenly stopped. The walls no longer shook, the hanging lamp in the center of the room no longer seemed like it was about to break, and the dust that had been shaken free began to settle. Marlene looked up at Elmyra questioningly before pulling out of her embrace and running toward a window. She placed her small hands on the windowsill and peered out as Elmyra stood up and followed her – just in case this was merely a calm.

They could see the monsters outside had stopped their rampage and were now looking around as if they didn't know where they were. Lights danced around them and black dust fell to the ground as the creatures started to move in a less agitated manner.

The people of Edge slowly started to leave their homes when they realized they were no longer being terrorized by the monsters outside. Fiends remained in the town, but they turned and ran whenever a human got close to them. People grabbed brooms, pitchforks, or whatever else they could use as weapons to force the monsters out of town. It was the first time many people had even left their house in weeks.

Cid and Nanaki each ended up in the path of the falling soot from the monsters in the crater.

"The hell?" Cid asked as he brushed it off his jacket and arms.

Nanaki sneezed and shook his whole body like a wet dog, flinging soot everywhere. He then sat down and began to scratch behind his ear with his back leg, releasing more dust.

"Thanks, pal," Cid said as he was again covered in the ash.

Tseng and Elena looked up into the light, Elena placing a hand across her brow to shield her eyes while Tseng used his arm. They hadn't realized how cold it was in the crater until the light warmed their faces.

Elena noticed the gray pyreflies rising from out of the pit and looked down. Her eyes widened and she tugged on Tseng's sleeve.

"Look!" she exclaimed as she watched what was happening to Cloud.

Cid and Nanaki walked to the edge of the rocky ledge and peered down below. Since the monsters were no longer fighting them, they jumped down to join their friends, followed by Tseng and Elena.

"You didn't disappear," Tifa said when no more pyreflies left Cloud's body.

He again looked at his hands to verify what she said and then turned to her with a smile.

"Looks that way," he responded. "I feel… different. Do I look different?"

"It looks like you've been through hell," Tifa teased. "But you look lighter."

"I feel lighter," Cloud replied, taking Tifa's hand in his. She blushed.

"Cloud!" Yuffie ran toward him and threw her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to match his height. "You idiot! We thought you were leaving us!" She began hitting his chest with her fist.

Cloud chuckled as he placed his hands on either side of Yuffie's hips and gently pulled away from her grip.

"You think you could get rid of me that easily?" he joked.

Before Yuffie could retort, the whole crater began to shake as it had two years ago when they defeated Sephiroth. Everyone froze except to look at each other for ideas. Small debris and larger boulders began to dislodge from the crater walls and crash down into the pit. Nanaki quickly dove out of the way of one that threatened to flatten him. A smaller rock hit Rude in the shoulder.

"We have to get outta here!" Cid yelled over the sounds of cracking walls and falling debris.

The situation was just as it was two years ago. The party jumped out of the pit and back up to the cavern above, which was now clear of monsters. The fiends that had remained had turned around in an effort to evacuate the crater, some falling into the Lifestream as others pushed and shoved to save themselves.

AVALANCHE and the Turks quickly realized the path leading up had been completely destroyed this time. Monsters were running around desperately looking for a way to escape, stampeding over each other and knocking some of the experienced fighters to the ground.

"Back to the cavern!" Cloud called to everyone before heading to the entrance of the cave they had just exited. He waited to make sure everyone else entered before going in himself.

"Now what?" Barret asked.

"I don't know," Cloud said, a slight panic in his voice. Had they really just saved the world only to die in the Northern Crater?

Cid was already on his PHS talking to the crew of the Highwind, barking orders and demanding action.

"Don't give me that shit!" he yelled. "Just do what I fuckin' tell ya!"

Reno, trying to keep his balance as the walls caved in around everyone, looked at his fellow Turks and knew what he had to do. He retrieved his own PHS and quickly scrolled through his contacts to dial a number before bringing the device to his ear, hoping he could get through.

"Reno?" he could hear the woman's voice on the other end. "What's going on down there?"

"Shotgun," Reno said, eliciting a groan from the woman on the phone. "Listen carefully and do as I say."

"That's not my name! And who the fuck do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

"God_dammit_ Shotgun! Listen to me! Get out of there. Fly away. Now. As fast as you can."

"No way!" Shotgun responded. "We're Turks. We don't leave each other behind, no matter how awful certain members of the family may be."

A boulder fell from above and crashed into the ground just next to Reno as he spoke, causing him to cling to the wall to keep from being smashed into bits. He again looked at his friends, though it was difficult due to the ground shaking. Rude and Tseng were expressionless, knowing the second-in-command was making the right call. They all may be about to die in the crater, but Freyra didn't need to die with them.  
"Freyra…" Reno said, irritation growing in his voice. "Just get out of here. Save yourself!"

He flipped his phone closed and ignored the immediate incoming phone call. He looked over at Tifa to find her backed against the wall. The ledge between them had been broken by the cave-in. She barely had enough room to stand. The pit below no longer held cubed stone. All that remained was the Lifestream, a bottomless pit housing the souls of the dead.

Tifa kept pushing herself back against the cave wall as it vibrated her forward toward the pit. Rocks dislodged beneath her feet to fall into the Lifestream as the ground crumbled beneath her.

"Tifa!" Reno called out, rushing to the edge of the rocky formation he was standing on. "Give me your hand!"

Tifa looked at him and then to her other side. The ledge to her left was broken as well, and the rest of AVALANCHE was too far away to reach her. Cloud was at the edge, also reaching out to her. Tifa assessed her options and realized AVALANCHE was too far away. She reached toward Reno and was about to jump when Cloud's arm encircled her waist and pulled her back. He had driven the tip of his sword into the wall to use as a platform to get closer to her and grab her.

Reno watched as Tifa floated away from him, still reaching out. That damn blond hero _again_. How could a Turk compare to boy wonder over there?

AVALANCHE huddled together on one side of what remained of the cavern while the Turks remained on the other side. As more light began to funnel into the bottom of the crater, a large shadow appeared and stretched from one side of the cavern to the other, growing larger by the second.

"Fuck yea!" Cid cheered when he realized his crew had listened to him even though it meant risking their lives.

The Highwind was approaching fast as the walls of the crater gave way to create space. When it had lowered as far as it could go, half a dozen rope ladders were dropped over the railing of the deck. Tseng ordered Elena to climb up before him. She protested, and he lifted her up toward the ladder to indicate he was not making a suggestion. She scaled the ladder as quickly as she could so that he could climb up behind her.

Reno told Rude to go up ahead of him. Reno wasn't one for self-sacrifice, but after the events of today he felt like he had the least to lose of anyone in the crater. Tifa would surely return to Cloud if they escaped, but everyone else had more than their colleagues to return to. Tseng and Elena had each other. Rude wasn't broken like Reno. AVALANCHE, he supposed, all had each other and families somewhere, or were like Vincent and didn't care about other people.

As Reno climbed the ladder behind Rude, he felt empty. The Turks had always been enough for him, but now he felt like something was missing in his life. He could see members of AVALANCHE climbing up the ladders on the other side of the Highwind. Tifa was across from him, having been forced by Cloud to go up ahead. Reno continued to climb while watching her through the rungs. For a brief moment she caught his glance and seemed to give him a look as if she was trying to apologize. It stung him, but he looked up toward the airship and climbed even faster as Rude peered over the railing at him, extending a hand to help up his partner.

As soon as the last of the group was on the deck, Cid gave the order to take off as fast as possible. He didn't want to be one of the first to climb up, as he, like Cloud, would have gladly given his life to ensure everyone else survived, but he was the captain of the ship and he needed to get to the bridge so they could escape as soon as everyone was safe.

The Highwind burst out of the Northern Crater in a déjà vu moment for AVALANCHE. Again, they were clinging to the railing as the ship traveled at full speed away from the crater. Some had managed to make it inside before the airship took off, but still found themselves grabbing onto whatever they could to avoid flying into a wall.

Yuffie, particularly, was struggling with the rapid escape. She had gotten below the deck as soon as she jumped over the railing onto the ship and was trying to keep from throwing up. Tseng was bracing himself and Elena against the wall, while Rude and Reno gripped a railing up above on the deck. Nanaki had made it into the chocobo stall and had all four paws spread out to try and keep his balance. Cid and his crew were hanging on to the various control panels as they tried to right the ship. Cait Sith and Vincent were in the conference room holding onto the table, with the robot cat clinging desperately to the large stuffed moogle.

On deck, Barret was holding onto the railing with his good arm. Cloud had one arm around Tifa as he held them both close to another section of the railing.

With a violent jerk, the ship began to level off just in time for a huge beam of light to shoot out from the center of the planet and out the crater. The power of the energy caused the Highwind to hitch and be pushed further away from the crater. The crew recovered and continued a safe distance from the landform. Just as they had two years ago, AVALANCHE watched what was happening from the deck of the Highwind.

The light seemed to shoot deep into outer space, forcing out everything that was in the crater, including what remained of Jenova. Barret squinted to see that the flying specks he saw rushing toward the atmosphere were the monsters that had been left behind in the crater.

Rude scanned over the landscape around them to see small spots of light all over the planet.

"Jenova is gone," he said to no one in particular.

"You think so?" Reno piped up beside him, resting his forearms on the railing and leaning over it to look out into the distance.

"Can't you feel it?" the bald Turk asked without looking over at his partner. Reno glanced over at Rude with a skeptical expression before turning to gaze across the landscape.

"I think so, yo." He straightened his back and laced his fingers behind his head. "Ah but yanno, without Jenova to blame, Shinra's gonna become the world's enemy again."

"Looks like our jobs are secure, then," Rude with the slightest smirk.

Reno laughed at his partner's joke before he became solemn once again, resting his forearms once more on the railing to lean over. Going back to handling Shinra's dirty work meant no more work time spent with Tifa. Hopefully he would busy enough to not be sitting around thinking about her so he could get back to his regular life: Work, booze, broads. Eventually, the past two months would seem like some wonderful dream. But just like a dream, the haze would wear off and he would return to real life. He knew it wouldn't be that easy to restore normalcy; it was merely wishful thinking. _Normalcy_ just didn't appeal to him anymore.

He was snapped out of his unusually pensive mood by the sound of laughter. He knew that laugh; that sweet, gentle, feminine laugh. It was a laugh he wanted just for himself, yet here he was listening to it brought out by someone else. He prickled at the thought and twisted slightly to look over his shoulder at her. She was with Barret and _Cloud_. He didn't know who made her laugh, but he hoped it was Barret.

"You really had us going there, Spike!" Barret said with a slap to Cloud's back, which sent the younger man staggering forward. "Thought we'd be escaping without ya."

"I thought that, too," Cloud said, staring at his feet. He didn't want to see the hurt look on Tifa's face again. He hadn't wanted to hurt her again, but it had been the only way to stop Jenova. Now that he was free of its cells, he could spend the rest of his life ensuring she would never feel that pain again.

"That was a pretty sick move though, tricking that _thing_ into killing itself!" Barret said, this time punching Cloud in the arm.

Again, Cloud reeled from Barret's strength. He rubbed his arm and looked at the bigger man, confused. _He_ didn't stab Jenova until after Zack did.

"That's what you saw?"

Barret narrowed his eyes and looked at Cloud with a puzzled expression.

"Huh? Your head _still_ messed up?" he asked. Cloud shook his head.

"No, it's just…"

"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked, concerned. Cloud looked into her wine-colored eyes and sighed.

"You really didn't see Zack?" he asked.

"You saw Zack, again?" Tifa asked.

"Wait, hold up," Barret said. "You tellin' me you been seein' dead people?"

"Barret," Tifa scolded. "We _all_ felt Aeris in that cave."

"Yeah but none of us _saw_ her."

"Zack killed Jenova," Cloud interjected. "When I reached for my sword it shot me with another migraine – the worst I'd ever felt. I thought my head was going to cave in. I stopped pointing my sword at it and when I opened my eyes, Zack had stabbed it between the eyes."

Barret opened his mouth and narrowed one eye in disbelief. Cloud really was still messed up. Cloud ignored him and looked at Tifa.

"You didn't see him?"

She shook her head.

"None of us did," she responded. "We just saw you draw your sword and get pulled to Jenova. You stabbed it."

Cloud lowered his head and dropped his shoulders. "I swear he was there," he said. Tifa put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe he was there. Like Aeris was there," she tried to cheer him up.

"Maybe I'm still crazy," Cloud said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"You never were," Tifa said.

She happened to glance over to the other side of the deck to see Reno leaning back on his elbows against the railing, looking in her direction. He didn't seem to be staring at her though, more like he was spaced out. His eyes shifted slightly to focus on her and she gave him a quick smile.

She had been surprised that he didn't antagonize Cloud when they were in the Northern Crater or brag in front of everyone about how he had slept with her. She would have thought for sure that he would poke the bear, so to speak. She had cringed every time he and Cloud came close, thinking Reno was about to taunt him. Maybe he really had changed over the past two months. This certainly wasn't the Reno she had previously known, but she shouldn't have been surprised by his actions after getting to know him.

She didn't know what to do. She loved Cloud, she cared for him, but now that Jenova was defeated she found herself worried about so many things. Worried that Cloud would find out about her and Reno and how he would find out. Worried that she would lose either of them. She knew she couldn't have both, but she felt responsible for both of them now. She didn't want to break anyone's heart.

"_Where we takin' everyone?_" they heard Cid ask over a loudspeaker.

Tifa was thankful for the interruption and looked between her companions, who nodded.

"Should probably figure that out," Barret said as they turned to head inside to the bridge.

They passed Yuffie in her usual spot, hunched over and trying not to wretch again. They were joined on the bridge by the Turks and other members of AVALANCHE.

"Wow, full group," Cid mused as he looked over the crowd that was now hunkered nearby. "So, where's everyone goin'?"

"I was thinking," Tifa said, timidly stepping forward. "We could all go back to Seventh Heaven to celebrate before we all go home again. It might… be awhile before we see each other."

She looked at her feet sheepishly, tracing circles on the metal floor with the toe of her right boot.

"I'm down," Barret spoke up. "Let me just call Elmyra and Marlene."

Tseng looked at his team and nodded. "I think a celebration is in order."

Elena smiled. She had just come so close to death, she actually wanted to get drunk with the only other people on Gaia who had gone through the same thing. She felt a weird camaraderie with everyone currently standing on the bridge. The Turks had taken on some dangerous missions, but never anything like this. She had just helped save the world. Very few people could say they had done the same, and Elena didn't realize until this moment how big an accomplishment that actually was.

Reno placed his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders, looking away from the group. Great, a party with all the AVALANCHE do-gooders probably ignoring the help they received from the Turks. They'd now saved the world _twice_; they probably _still_ looked down on the Turks. Tifa noticed his annoyed expression and furrowed her brow for a minute, thinking of what she could do to lift his spirits.

"Drinks are on me," she said.

Reno didn't want to acknowledge her, but his ears betrayed him. Like a deer hearing the slightest crack of a twig as a warning sign, Reno's ears perked up at the mention of free booze. He was already looking at Tifa with a wide smile on his face before he even realized what he was doing.

"_Now_ you're speakin' my language, bay-" he stopped himself from finishing the word, hoping he was quick enough to keep certain people from noticing. Sure, he called most women babe, but he feared he'd give himself away if he called this _particular_ woman babe at this particular moment. Thankfully, Cloud didn't seem to pick up on anything out of the ordinary – just Reno being Reno.

"Woohoo!" Cid cheered, raising his fist in the air. "Let's get this party started!"

"I think I'll join you all – in person," Reeve said through Cait Sith.

"It will be nice to spend time together one last time without all the fighting," Nanaki said, padding through the group.

Vincent, who was leaning against the far wall with his arms folded across his chest and his head hung low, let out a barely audible grunt to indicate he would attend the little gathering.

Cloud, personally, was not looking forward to an immediate celebration. He was aching to be alone with Tifa to finally be able to tell her how sorry he was without being interrupted by a headache, and, if things went well…

_Later…_

Surprisingly, the members of AVALANCHE mingled pretty well with the Turks after they had returned to Edge. Cid was able to park the airship outside the city without fear that fiends would attack. The world would still have to deal with the excess monsters in the world, but it wouldn't be such a daunting task now that the beasts were no longer aggressive. There were still hordes of them throughout the desert outside Edge, but they were just grazing and fighting each other for territory in a crowded world. They showed no interest in the Highwind and only a few levrikons attempted to fight the group as they trekked back into the city.

After an initial toast to a mission accomplished, the new saviors of the planet slowly dispersed throughout Seventh Heaven. Reeve arrived late, but it had been months since anyone had seen him in person, so his presence was appreciated nonetheless.

Tseng and Elena were talking to Cloud and Tifa. Elena had initiated the conversation, partly to assess where the AVALANCHE members stood in their relationship. Elena began the conversation casually enough, and soon segued into a question about going on a double date with her and Tseng. Cloud looked like any guy being asked on a double date would: Stifled discomfort. Tifa flustered at the suggestion.

"Well, you _are_ a couple again, right?" Elena asked, a little more forcefully than she intended. Tseng elbowed her in the side as subtly as possible.

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other. Cloud hadn't been able to think about _anything_ else since he was freed from the Jenova cells and they escaped the Northern Crater. He knew they would have to ease back into a relationship, but he couldn't let on how difficult that would be for him. All he could do since they got back to the Highwind was stare at Tifa, and when he did that, he couldn't help but picture her naked.

Until Elena's inappropriate question, his mind had wandered in that direction once again, and he was actually happy to be pulled out of those thoughts. He didn't want to think just about that, especially knowing it was unlikely she would be able to jump right back into a relationship with him – physical or otherwise. He was willing to wait until she was comfortable.

And he didn't just miss the physical. He had missed so much the past two months and even more before then. He missed waking up next to her, her cooking, her laugh, building Edge with her, helping her run the bar, even the smallest of errands – he missed it all.

Tifa floundered for a moment, meeting Cloud's gaze as he gave her a hopeful yet questioning look. She bit her lower lip as her heart fluttered a moment.

"We… haven't discussed that yet," she answered timidly.

Elena nodded and made a noise to signal she understood.

Elsewhere, Yuffie had forced her way into Reno and Rude's conversation. The two Turks had been standing away from the others having their own discussion. Well, _Reno_ was talking – mostly conspiracy theories about what everyone else might be saying about them behind their backs – and Rude was standing stoically. God help him, he was listening to every word of his partner's rant.

"So, what are you two conspiring about?" Yuffie asked after sidling up to the two men. Reno shot her a menacing glance.

"None of your business, kid," he told her. She scoffed and put her hands on her hips.

"Don't call me a kid."

"Act like a kid, get called a kid," Reno explained.

"I act young because I _am_ young. What's your excuse, old man?" Yuffie retorted, pointing an accusing finger at Reno.

"Old man? I'm 27," Reno admitted, narrowing his eyes at the young ninja.

"Hmm. A five-year difference…" she trailed off.

"You got somethin' you wanna say to me, brat?"

It was at that moment that whoops and cheers were heard across the room. The three looked in the direction of the sound to see Barret hollering excitedly and giving Cid a pat on the bag so hard it sent the pilot forward a few steps.

"Listen up, everybody!" Barret exclaimed, looking around the room. "Our boy Cid here just informed me he's gonna propose to Shera when he gets home!"

A round of applause and cheers erupted from the other guests. Reno rolled his eyes and clapped almost sarcastically. Vincent didn't move from his position leaning against a wall, as usual. Yuffie jumped up and down, screaming louder than anyone else. Her shrill cries stabbed Reno in the ears like an icepick to the eardrum.

Tifa clapped vigorously along with everyone else from AVALANCHE. She had been so happy to see how much progress Cid had made toward becoming a better man for Shera. The two had really found their stride. Cid's transformation had given Tifa hope for Cloud; hope that she still held onto and that was renewed now that Jenova was destroyed.

But she also feared that without the Jenova cells as an excuse, she and Cloud would both learn that he just simply didn't love her and would leave again. That fear – along with the knowledge that at any moment he could learn about her and Reno – kept her heart sunk into her stomach through much of the festivities. So far Reno had behaved, but how long would that last?

The fear that Cloud would leave again also made her want to spend some time talking with Reno, but she couldn't think of a way to nonchalantly get to him. The truth was the last two months had given her conflicted feelings that only became worse when Cloud returned. The fluttering feeling she felt in her heart when Reno was near hadn't gone away, as she expected it would.

Tifa walked up to Cid to personally congratulate him, with Cloud in tow. The announcement had given Cloud an idea. He wanted to prove to Tifa that he would always be there for her in the future, and what better way than making the commitment he knew she had longed for all these years?

After hugging Cid and telling him she would help anyway he and Shera needed, Tifa instinctively returned to her usual place behind the bar to let people come refill their drinks. A few members of AVALANCHE took her up on the offer and chatted her up a bit about how crazy the fight was, what the next thing to threaten the planet would be, how she must be so happy that Cloud was alright and back. She humored them as she filled their drinks and sipped from her own.

At the end of the bar a pair of aquamarine eyes stared at her. She caught his glance and moved to where he was standing. He was leaning over the bar counter, resting on his elbows, just as if he were waiting to be served on a regular night.

"The usual?" she asked him with that warm smile.

Reno nodded and she turned to pull out his favorite scotch bottle to pour him another drink. She started to pour, watching the amber liquid fall from the bottle into his glass for a moment.

"I wanted to thank you," she said.

"For what?" he asked, taking his drink once she had poured it, making sure his fingers lingered on hers as she had held it steady for the pour.

"For putting me in the pyramid and catching me when I fell from the Lifestream."

"Hey, like Strife said, I missed," he gave her a quick glance with his trademark smirk. "And to the other point, I didn't so much as catch as provide a softer landing."

Tifa giggled and returned the bottle to the shelf. She needed to get away from him before things became obvious. She turned to leave the bar area when his voice halted her.

"Wait," he said, trying to keep his voice low enough so that only she could hear. "We should probably talk."

Tifa shot a nervous glance around the bar and her eyes briefly locked on Cloud's. He had been talking to Cid and Barret but couldn't help but look over at her every so often. He had seen Reno's hand brush against Tifa's but tried not to overthink it. He was just being paranoid – and Reno was a notorious flirt. He could only imagine what Tifa had to put up with from other men while he was gone. She was looking at him with a worried expression, he thought, indicating she was uncomfortable talking to Reno alone. It put Cloud's mind at ease.

"I can't right now," Tifa said in a dejected tone after she turned back to Reno. "I'm sorry."

Before she could notice Reno's sour face, she was walking away, trying to keep a neutral expression to hide her nerves. Without even thinking she started heading in Cloud's direction, but thankfully for her, Yuffie grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away. Cloud noticed the young ninja's actions and felt a little relief wash over him. Surely boy-crazy Yuffie would help push Tifa back to him.

Yuffie dragged Tifa into the back storage room but didn't close the door. Didn't need people to get weird ideas. She spoke in a hushed tone so the others outside the room wouldn't hear.

"So?" she asked her older friend.

"So what?" Tifa asked. Yuffie rolled her eyes and huffed.

"What are you going to do now that Cloud's back?"

"I really don't want to talk about this right now," Tifa replied, turning to leave the room. Yuffie grabbed her arm to stop her.

"You can't just ignore it!" Yuffie exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down. "Who are you going to choose?"

Tifa sighed and looked at her feet. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose them both once Cloud finds out."

Yuffie crossed her arms and sighed. "Well, if that _doesn't_ happen, who would you choose?"

"I can't even think about that right now, Yuffie. I'm just trying to get through this day."

Back in the bar, Elena had abandoned Tseng when she saw Reno drinking alone at the end of the bar. Tseng had protested at first, but soon found himself in a fairly interesting conversation with Rude and Vincent. The three men usually spoke very little, but for some reason now that they were together, they had a bit to say.

Elena took a deep breath and sidled up to Reno, taking a seat on the stool next to his.

"You okay?"

"Elena, don't," Reno said, keeping his eyes forward and taking a sip of his scotch.

"Don't what?" she asked, as innocently as she could. Reno turned his upper body toward her and circled his hands in the air between them.

"This," he said. "Don't do _this_."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Elena said as Reno returned to his drink. For a few minutes they said nothing, each focusing on their own drink and seemingly ignoring the other's presence. "They're not together, you know," she said, copying his movement from earlier and taking a sip of her drink while looking straight forward.

Reno's eyes snapped toward her briefly, but he continued to face forward.

"Don't care," he said.

Elena could sense the slightest change in his posture and voice after she said that. He was trying to act like his old self, but she knew he had changed. Tifa had some kind of an effect on him – some kind of a hold on him Elena had never seen before.

"Your loss," Elena said before standing up and trying to return to Tseng, who at that point was engrossed in a conversation with Vincent about guns.

She then spotted Tifa and Yuffie leaving the storage room – Tifa looked sullen – and decided she didn't get to talk to enough women in her life, so she cut them off at the end of the bar opposite Reno and struck up a conversation.

Reeve, Barret, Cid, and Cloud were discussing Cid's proposal and Cloud's return. Tseng, Rude, and Vincent were still talking amongst themselves. Reno was finishing his current drink, before getting up and joining his fellow male Turks. Nanaki was curled up in the corner, napping. He couldn't exactly drink alcohol, and with everyone else standing on their two legs, it was difficult for him to join any conversation. Sure, people came over to sit near him or lean over and talk, but the truth was he was exhausted and needed an evening snooze. He never fell fully asleep, however, his ears constantly moving, picking up bits of conversation around the bar, never focusing on one conversation in particular.

"Sorry, I need to take out the trash," Tifa said once Elena finished her current sentence.

She was enjoying the girl talk, for sure, as she had never had many girlfriends growing up until she met Jessie. But her guilt and current dilemma kept her from fully enjoying their discussion. Then she noticed the garbage can was overflowing and she decided to empty it and get some fresh air. She crushed the trash down as best she could and tied the bag before pulling it out of the can and walking with it out the back door.

Elena heard the back door close from where she was standing and looked around the room. Reno was no longer sitting at the end of the counter, but she didn't see him with Rude, either.

Outside, Tifa flung the bag of garbage into the dumpster, the sound of breaking beer bottles echoing against the large plastic bin. She threw it in the dumpster with enough force to cause the lid to fall with a booming sound that seemed to ring throughout the alleyway. When she turned back toward the back door of the bar, she found Reno standing just a few feet in front of her, arms folded across his chest. She gasped.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked him, clutching her chest and trying to slow her heartbeat.

"Is it over?" he huffed. He wasn't drunk, but he was sure it looked that way.

"I… I don't know," Tifa said, looking at the ground. "There's so much going on right now."

"Tifa, seriously?" his eyes were harsh and Tifa could swear she saw the Mako in them glowing brightly.

"I don't know what to say right now, Reno, I need time."

"You're just going to run back to him, aren't you?"

"No… I don't know what I'm going to do."

Reno scoffed. He shifted his weight in annoyance and narrowed his eyes. "And where's he going to stay while you figure things out? Cuz' from the look of it he's planning on staying here."

"I didn't really think about that," Tifa responded, her voice gaining a little confidence.

"Cut the crap, Tifa," Reno said, flailing his arms at his sides as his tone turned dark.

"Reno…"

"Tifa."

"I don't know what I want right now…" Tifa was not ready for this conversation. She wanted time to think things over, though she knew that would be impossible. She was sure Cloud would move back in with her and she had no intention of kicking him out while she made up her mind. She knew ignoring the issue wasn't going to fix anything, but right now all she could think to do was give it time.

"Bullshit," Reno said sternly. "Tell me something, if he hadn't come back, would things have continued?"

"I could ask you the same question," she snapped back. "I didn't hear from you for days after you dropped me off at Edge. I assumed you had your fun and you were done with me…"

Reno softened a bit and his eyes widened softly with concern.

"That wasn't… I didn't…" he sounded gloomy, but his expression quickly turned serious. "I wasn't done with you! But then _he_ showed up and it sure looked like you were back with him."

Reno again crossed his arms. "How do I know I wasn't just a rebound while you waited for your hero to come back?"

"I've never, I _would_ never!" Tifa protested. She didn't have enough experience with relationships to have ever had a rebound, let alone consciously look for one.

"When do you think you'll know?" he asked, his expression irritated.

"I don't know, I need to do what's right."

That set him off. He uncrossed his arms and gestured wildly.

"'What's right?' What's right for who, you, or everyone else?" he asked angrily.

Tifa retreated a little, unsure where the outburst was coming from.

"Just what's right."

"What about what you _want_, Tifa?"

"I don't know what I want, I told you," Tifa didn't raise her voice to match Reno's, hoping he would calm down.

"I think you do, but you've spent your whole life doing what people _expect_ you to do. Have you ever done anything just for yourself?"

"I do things for myself, plenty."

"Yeah right. C'mon Tifa. Everything you do is for other people. You run a bar to help other people forget about their shit lives, you fought with AVALANCHE to save the people of Gaia, and God knows you've been taking care of Spike for years even though he keeps abandoning you."

"He has not!" Tifa was defiant now, with her hands on her hips.

"Tch. He left you for Shinra. Then he left you for that Ancient, and _then_ he left you after she died," Reno scoffed. He hadn't intended to start a fight, but this was probably a long time coming.

"He didn't _leave_ me. He joined Shinra to become strong. He only thought he loved Aeris because of his connection to Zack, and he was struggling with the Jenova cells."

"Do you hear yourself?" Reno was just going for it now. "How much longer are you going to make excuses for him? How long until he leaves again. What'll the excuse be that time, Tifa? Hmm?"

"He's been there for me more than you know," she responded.

"When?" Reno acted curious, but his tone was acidic. "When you were dying in Nibelheim? How about when you were growing up in the slums? When you were about to be executed? When you were _shot_?"

"He _was_ there in Nibelheim, I just didn't know it. He was held captive by Hojo while I was in the slums, he had Mako poisoning when _Shinra_ tried to execute me, and he was trying to get home when I was shot."

"More excuses."

"I would like to add that _Shinra_ was the cause of _all_ his disappearances. You know, the company you still work for?"

Reno knew he was walking into that one, but he needed to plant the seed in her head. He never wanted to fight with her, especially now that Cloud was back and any negative could cause him to lose Tifa, but he also needed to her to start seeing Cloud for what he was: A flake.

Tifa had her arms at her sides, her hands balled into fists and shaking slightly. She was fighting back angry tears. Reno didn't know what he was talking about. He was simplifying things because he was angry and trying to hurt her, she thought. She wouldn't react the same. She tried to control her breathing and didn't speak for a moment. Her head was bowed, but she lifted it when she was ready to speak, staring at Reno with an expression that, while neutral in appearance, let him know that she was livid just below the surface.

"Reno…" she looked directly into his eyes. "How did you know we were going to the Northern Crater."

Now, Reno had always fancied himself a deceptive guy. He'd taken on alternate personalities and looks in order to gain information, but when caught off guard, he was a terrible liar off the cuff.

"The papers we found in the old basement," he said, absentmindedly scratching the back of his head. "The scientists found something about Jenova's head in the Northern Crater and we were sent to investigate…"

"Bullshit," Tifa mocked his tone from earlier. "Were you spying on me?"

"What? No!" Reno tried to sound as sincere as possible but knew she wouldn't believe him.

"All that time spent with me, yet I didn't know about the Northern Crater until _after_ the last time I saw you," Tifa said accusatorially. "Have you been listening to my conversations? Did you bug my house?"

"Tifa, I…" his face dropped. He couldn't even think of a lie to offer her. Well, this conversation had certainly blown up in his face. He had been hoping to avoid this so he could slip into her home and remove the recording devices before she found out about them.

Her eyes widened and if Reno didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw flames in her pupils.

"You _did_! How could you?" Tifa demanded. Reno found his own anger again.

"I tried to stop them! I tried to get them taken out!"

"But you were just doing your job," Tifa said, coldly. It cut him deeply. It was the phrase he had used that pissed her off so much before he won her over. "When did you install them?"

"Tifa…"

"When?!" she yelled. Her heart was beating fast and she could feel nervous butterflies in her stomach. How much of her life had Shinra heard?

"Tifa… I swear to you I tried to stop it and get them removed…"

"When?!" tears had started to fall. His answer made it clear Shinra had heard quite a bit. Her cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

"The night I first slept over…" Reno admitted.

Tifa's eyes widened again. She stood before him, her fists shaking and her jaw clenched. When she spoke, it was clear she was forcing herself to sound calm.

"Get out," she said quietly.

"Tifa, wait, no," Reno took a step toward her. "I'll get rid of them. I never wanted to install them in the first place."

He tried to wrap his arms around her but she placed her palms on his chest and pushed him back.

"Get out!" she yelled.

"Tifa!"

"Now!"

He locked eyes with her, trying to apologize through them while she continued to stare daggers back at him. He felt his nostril twitch as his own anger returned. How did this conversation get turned around on him?

"Fine," he said as calmly as possible before spinning on his heel and walking to the back door of the bar.

Tifa could hear him yell "Fuck!" just as he was inside the bar. She turned and kicked the dumpster as hard as she could, leaving a dent. The tears were flowing freely as she slumped to the ground next to the garbage and pulled her knees up to her chin. She certainly felt like a piece of trash. She developed feelings for Reno while Cloud was gone, and now that Cloud was back, she had feelings for both of them. She didn't want to hurt either of them. And now she was pissed at Reno for what he had done and embarrassed about what his fellow Turks and others at Shinra heard on the tapes.

She buried her face against her knees and sobbed, tears falling to the filthy ground where she sat. Maybe this argument was her answer, however. She could only hope Reno wouldn't retaliate by telling Cloud.

Tifa heard the back door to the bar open but she didn't look up to see who it was. She didn't want to see Reno right now, that was for sure. She sensed a figure standing in front of her, casting a shadow over her form. Whoever it was crouched down in front of her.

"Tifa?" a voice asked.

She lifted her head and opened her eyes to look at the source of the voice. A pair of Mako-infused blue eyes stared back at her.


	38. Teardrops On Fire

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 38:

Reno opened the back door to Seventh Heaven and immediately collided with the absolute _last_ person he wanted to see at that very moment: Cloud Strife. Without thinking, he yelled "Fuck!" after tangling with his rival, partially because of who he had just bumped into but also letting out the anguish that was now pent up inside of him.

He continued past Cloud and stormed out the front door of the bar without making eye contact with anyone. He tried his best to slip out quietly, yet his outburst just inside the bar made that impossible. Once he was outside, however, he didn't care who noticed his leaving or what they thought was wrong with him.

The air was getting cooler now that fall was approaching, something Reno looked forward to each year. Don't get him wrong, he loved women's summer fashion, but he was more comfortable in a cooler climate. He walked briskly from the bar in the direction of his apartment, wanting nothing more than to pass out and pray this was all some kind of bad dream.

Why did he say those things to Tifa? He had always thought those things about Cloud, but he never intended to tell Tifa any of that. He panicked. He felt himself losing her and he lashed out, like an idiot. Like someone who had never been in a real relationship before. Well, he certainly fucked that up.

He needed to sleep, and she needed time to cool down before he could approach her again. But Cloud would probably swoop in during that time. It wasn't fair that the blond got to live there with her and get her undivided attention while Reno had to hope he wouldn't lose her.

He was about a block from Seventh Heaven when his phone rang. Without taking even a second to consider who might be calling – Elena, Rude, maybe even Rufus or Tifa – he took out his phone and flipped it open to his ear.

Back inside, Elena turned to Yuffie and apologized for Reno with an awkward smile.

"We should… probably go," the blonde woman said. "I'm glad we were able to put the past behind us, at least for a little while."

Yuffie nodded, confused by Reno's actions but suspecting what might have happened. Elena made eye contact with Tseng and Rude, who quickly followed her out the front door in search of Reno. They may have been having a pleasant conversation, but things were surely about to go south. The atmosphere was already cool, with the Turks distrusting AVALANCHE's view of them and AVALANCHE distrusting the Turk's motives. At best, the celebration could be considered a truce, though everyone seemed to be getting along.

Elena looked both ways after exiting the bar, but Reno was already out of sight. She broke into a jog, hoping to find him skulking down a side road on his way home. He didn't have much of a head start, so finding him wasn't difficult; he was only a block ahead of them, standing in the alleyway and talking on the phone. The Turks could only hear Reno's side of the conversation.

"Of _course_ I'm glad you're okay, too. It's just that the chopper is my baby," Reno said into his phone, his voice raised and irritated.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said after a brief pause. It was then that he glanced over his shoulder and noticed his colleagues had followed him out of Seventh Heaven. He immediately turned to walk swiftly in the opposite direction, pretending he didn't notice them.

"For the love of God, you women have a one-track mind," he said into his phone as his pace quickened.

"Shotgun, I'm exhausted and pissed off, can we deal with this tomorrow?" he said, trying to keep his voice down so the other Turks wouldn't hear his conversation.

"_Freyra!_ God!" he yelled after her response, immediately forgetting that he was trying to keep his voice down.

"Fine – fuck – just go into the office and look in my bottom right desk drawer – no snooping!" he turned a corner.

"No, Freyra, I can't," he said before hanging up.

He didn't look back at his fellow Turks even after he hung up; just continued to try to lose them on his way back to his apartment. Sure, they knew where he lived, but he had noise-cancelling headphones up there and a will to ignore.

"Reno!" he heard Elena call to him. He kept walking. "Reno! I know you can hear me!"

Elena looked at Tseng and then to Rude with an apologetic expression. They each nodded, knowing that she would have to use her particular talent, even though she didn't like them to witness it often. She took a deep breath before speaking in her most shrill tone.

"Reno! You can keep walking away, but we'll keep following, and I'm going to keep talking the entire way back to your apartment. Nonstop. Reno. Reno. Reno! Talk to us. Reno. What happened. Reno?"

"_Okay_!" Reno spun around and shot Elena a nasty look. He was exhausted, and irritated, and feeling guilty. He just wanted to go home.

"What happened?" Elena asked, more calmly this time. Reno groaned.

"We had a fight, that's all," Reno insisted, not caring whether Elena was referring to Tifa or Freyra.

Elena shifted her weight to the side and folded her arms across her chest. Rude stared at him through his sunglasses and Reno could tell his expression was disapproving. Tseng stood motionless, as usual, with an expression that Reno couldn't read, even after all these years.

"People have fights," Elena said in a soothing tone.

"Not like this," Reno said, refusing to make eye contact with his colleagues. "She knows we bugged her house."

He hated his emotions right now and the fact that his coworkers were seeing him like this. He felt weak. This thing he had with Tifa; it was weighing him down like an anchor. It was embarrassing.

"I wouldn't give up," Elena pleaded. Reno shot her another look.

"Why do you care so much, 'Lena?" he snapped.

"Because I want you to be happy!" she retorted. "I've seen you two together, she'd be good for you."

"But I'm no good for her," Reno turned to start walking away from everyone. "Never was."

"That's not true!" Elena sounded desperate. "You can fix this!"

"I'm going home. Maybe shit won't look so bad tomorrow," Reno said over his shoulder.

"That's the spirit," Tseng said emotionlessly. Reno's nostril twitched into a sneer.

"Heh, I doubt it."

Reno kept a brisk pace as he walked back to his apartment building. He hated how every conversation with his coworkers was now about getting him into a relationship. They used to have so much fun together, before Elena made it her life mission to get Reno and Tifa together. He used to tell them about his latest conquest – which was fun for him, not so much them. When that was done, they'd talk about explosives or have long, sometimes heated discussions about completely irrelevant things. One time they argued about what would have happened if AVALANCHE fought fairly, instead of 3-on-1 or 3-on-2. Would three Turks be able to defeat one member of AVALANCHE? Even Cloud?

Then there was the time they spent an entire afternoon arguing which materia element was best. Reno contended it was thunder, since it could destroy things in water and start a fire. Elena argued for water, since it could damage electronics and put out the fire. Rude, always the contrarian in these discussions, defended earth or wind. The topic got so intense Elena ended up "proving" her point by dropping Reno's PHS in a glass of liquid and storming out.

Reno missed those days, but he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to them, at least not any time soon. He found himself reliving those conversations but with Tifa in the group, as if that were ever truly a possibility. What were her thoughts on the element question?

He had calmed down a bit by the time he reached his apartment door. He hesitated outside in the hallway for a moment, lowering his head and sighing. Suddenly solitude didn't have the same appeal and knowing Tifa was pissed at him and probably being comforted by Cloud right now only made the situation worse.

He fumbled around in his pocket for the key and placed it into the lock. He took a deep breath to prepare for the loneliness he was about to feel and opened the door to find that the lights were already on…

_In the alley…_

The other Turks watched Reno walk away for a moment before turning to each other.

"Why _are_ you so concerned about his personal life, Elena?" Tseng asked when Reno was out of earshot.

"I just… I just want people to be happy, is that so wrong?"

Rude let out a grunt that sounded like a laugh. He was standing with his arms crossed, looking at the ground in front of him.

"I think it's time to let him go," Rude said without lifting his head. "Reno's going to do what Reno's going to do. All we can do is pick up the pieces."

"I had hoped we'd get a break after defeating Jenova," Elena said. "But I guess not."

_In the bar…_

After Reno and the other Turks left, Nanaki surprised everyone by stepping forward and making a suggestion.

"I think it's time we all left as well," he said, sitting on his haunches as the other members of AVALANCHE looked at him.

Barret turned back to look at Yuffie, who was still behind the bar. It made sense for Barret to assume Yuffie knew what was going on, as she was Tifa's best friend by default. Yuffie looked to Barret because he was the only other person she thought might have an inkling about Reno and Tifa's relationship, though he could be thick-headed. They were both surprised that Nanaki was the one to interject. Yuffie didn't make it much of a secret on the trip to the Forgotten Capital, but Nanaki had seemed so opposed to everything other than the books that Yuffie didn't think he paid attention.

Before anyone else could say anything, the back door opened again and Tifa ran in, heading straight up the stairs without saying a word to anyone. Yuffie, being the closest to the back door, could tell her friend had been crying. A moment later, Cloud also burst through the back door, calling for Tifa and looking around before heading up the stairs as well.

Cid wasn't sure what all had happened, but he knew a lover's quarrel when he saw one. He looked to the rest of AVALANCHE, who were still stunned, and cleared his throat.

"C'mon everyone, I'll take ya home," he said, motioning toward the door. "Probably wasn't a good idea to put a bunch of former adversaries in a close space with alcohol after the biggest fight of our lives."

Barret nodded and followed Cid out the door along with the remaining members of AVALANCHE. Outside, they said goodbye to Reeve, who then turned toward the center of town and began walking. A block away, as Reeve passed an alley, he overheard the Turks talking. He hid behind the corner of the opposite building and listened.

He heard Reno say he had a fight with someone, but Reeve didn't connect that it was probably Tifa until Elena said, "she'd be good for you." Reeve shook his head; unsure he had actually heard what he thought. Surely, Reno couldn't actually think he had something with Tifa? Reeve had never cared for the Turks, though his tolerance for them had grown since Meteor. He still couldn't see anything happening between Reno and Tifa though. He thought he knew Tifa, but maybe he had been so busy the past few months he missed some things.

He knew she was heartbroken after Cloud left, but enough to fall for Reno?

When he stopped hearing the Turks' voices he quickly started walking again toward the center of town and then to his house.

The rest of AVALANCHE didn't say much as they returned to the Highwind, but once onboard, Barret tried to get some information from Yuffie, who was hunched over and trying to calm her motion sickness. Nothing Cloud told her years ago ever seemed to work.

"Do you know what all that was back there?" Barret asked the sick young ninja.

She held up a hand to him to indicate she had something to say but needed a minute. Her other hand was covering her mouth. She gagged a few times.

"Ya know, they make potions for that now," Barret said, crossing his arms.

"No potions, materia," Yuffie said weakly. Barret shook his head and groaned.

"So?" he asked again.

"I have an idea, but I'm not telling you," she responded.

"Was there really something going on with her and the Turk?"

Yuffie shrugged. "You'd have to ask her."

"Hmm."

Barret was the first one dropped off. Elmyra and Marlene were waiting for him, covering their faces as sand flew everywhere when the Highwind landed. He ran toward them. Marlene ran toward him and leapt up into his arms as he kneeled down to catch her.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck. He tossed her into the air and onto his shoulder, where she sat as they walked back to Elmyra. "The monsters stopped attacking! Did you do that?"

"I helped, baby girl," Barret told her. Elmyra smiled.

"I'm glad you're back safe," she said.

The Highwind began to take off in the distance, and the three shielded their eyes and waved to the ship as it flew away.

"How did you stop them?" Marlene asked. "Did Cloud and Tifa help? What about Mr. Reno and Mr. Reeve? Did you see Cait Sith? Was it Sephiroth? Were you scared?"

"Whoa, slow down, kiddo," Barret insisted. "One question at a time."

He and Elmyra laughed as they walked back to Barret's small home.

Nanaki was taken to Cosmo Canyon next, where the tribe cheered for his return. The barriers that had been set up deep into the canyon had been removed, and access to the town was restored. He wasted no time assessing the damage that had been done to his home and was already talking to the village elders when the Highwind left. Nanaki took a brief pause from his conversation to look over his shoulder at the large airship, feeling a pang of sadness at the knowledge that he probably wouldn't see his friends again for a long time.

After Meteorfall they went their separate ways and barely spoke for a while. Nanaki loved being in Cosmo Canyon, but he was never happier than the days he spent fighting with AVALANCHE. He didn't like the increase in monster attacks, but it felt good to again be traveling and researching.

Yuffie was Cid's last drop off after he realized Vincent was not on the airship. Did he even board with them? Cid suddenly couldn't remember.

"Alright girl, stay out of trouble," Cid said to Yuffie as if he were a father giving his daughter advice. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, _dad_," she said before quickly disembarking and running into Wutai to see what needed to be fixed. It was the first time she had seen the town clear and people on the streets in months. It felt good. She grabbed her luggage and headed for her house. Once inside, she took out her PHS and texted Tifa.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

_Behind Seventh Heaven_

"How long were you listening?

"Long enough to hear that while I was dying trying to get back to you, you were getting close to the man who destroyed Sector 7," Cloud said, instantly regretting his words. Why would he say that? He had never said anything so cruel to anyone in his life, how could he say that to Tifa? It was definitely _not_ what he wanted to say to her. It was the first thought that popped into his head, but it was by no means what he thought about the situation. Tifa didn't _know_ he was trying to get back to her at that time.

His words made her want to vomit. She wanted to slap him. She wished the past two months had never happened. She wanted Reno to come back. She wished Cloud had never come home. She wished he had never left. She wanted die.

She gave him a defeated look before leaping to her feet and dashing back inside and up the stairs, tears streaming down her face.

Cloud jumped up and back when she did, expecting her to yell at him. He didn't think she'd run from him, though he couldn't blame her.

"Dammit!" he said, kicking at some debris in the alley.

He hadn't felt this bad since, well, since he first left her months ago. He knew back then that he was doing the wrong thing, but thought he was protecting her. Now he was just lashing out. He rushed to the back door and flung it open, looking around the bar for her.

"Tifa?" he called as he scanned the room for her.

He didn't think she had time to make it across the bar and out the front door, and since he only saw the faces of other AVALANCHE members – no Turks – he took off up the stairs to the room he used to share with Tifa.

He stopped in the doorway, afraid he'd find her packing a suitcase or throwing out his things. Instead, he saw that she was in bed, curled up with the sheet pulled up under her arm and facing away from the door. He had seen her like that once before he left, on the day he thinks she finally gave up on him. When he started his journey home, he had vowed to never see her like that again.

_About two months ago…_

Cloud had been pulling away from her for months. His headaches were getting worse and he was finding it more difficult to hide the pain and fear. His nightmares were becoming more intense. He stopped smiling and would barely even look at Tifa – at least from what she noticed.

She had tried everything she could think of to salvage their relationship. She tried asking him what was wrong many, many, _many_ times. She tried rephrasing it by asking him to "talk to her" as sweetly and nonchalantly as possible. She tried asking him what was on his mind. She finally gave up asking when she started worrying her questions were annoying him. He never answered anyway.

She then tried to pretend nothing was wrong. She'd go about her day and make small comments to him in the hopes normalcy would fix things. She'd ask him to help her with the bar or give him tasks like she did before his headaches started consuming him. He would barely respond to her comments, but he would at least help her if she asked. Things still did not improve, and within a few weeks, Cloud was hardly around for her to even ask him for help.

She swallowed her pride eventually and thought about what Aeris would do in this situation. Tifa tried to be bold and say whatever was on her mind, even if she thought she might be rejected or embarrassed. She tried to ask open-ended and random questions to start discussions with Cloud, like which fiend would win in a race or which one he would most like to have as a pet. When she asked, Cloud would barely acknowledge she had even spoke, offering only some kind of grunt – if he responded at all. Sometimes he would just say his head was hurting and leave the room.

Getting more and more defeated as the months dragged on, Tifa tried to start being more affectionate toward Cloud, thinking actions might be better than words. But when she'd place her hand on his shoulder or try to wrap her arms around his waist, he'd twist away from her and say he had something to do. She never saw how much the act was hurting him as well.

Tifa didn't have the relationship experience to read the writing on the wall. She thought the whole time that she could fix things and salvage what they had. Sometimes she couldn't hide her tears or anger and would end up in an argument with Cloud. Every time that happened, she felt him pull further and further away, until she feared that one more argument would drive him away for good. She started hiding her emotions.

She tried grand gestures, like cooking Cloud his favorite meals or buying him gifts. He'd eat the food and hardly say a word to her other than a barely audible "thank you." He'd try to reject the gifts.

Finally, she decided to make one last big move. It was not something she would have ever done without knowing he would respond positively, but after months of thinking she was losing him, she had no other ideas. She had tried everything else she could think of. She had tried talking to him, inviting their friends over to cheer him up, pretending things were fine, crying in front of him, fighting with him, showing him affection. Nothing worked.

That night she took a deep breath and opened her closet. Cloud was downstairs moping, so she knew she had some time. She pulled out a dress she hadn't worn in years and put it on, along with a matching pair of heels. She applied more makeup than she would usually wear, and left her hair untied and falling about her shoulders. She then sat on the bed in a seductive pose and waited for him to come upstairs.

He still slept in their bed some nights, but he had gradually started sleeping in the guest room over the months while his headaches worsened. Each night he stayed away, Tifa would stay up hoping he would join her – as she had done when he first came back into her life two years earlier. When she eventually accepted that he wasn't coming to bed, she would fight back tears before falling asleep.

On this particular night, she heard his heavy footsteps trudge up the stairs and stop outside their bedroom door. Her heart started to flutter as she anticipated him entering their room and finding her on the bed dressed as she was. But after a moment of silence, she heard the footsteps getting quieter and she knew he was heading for the spare bedroom.

Trying not to cry, she stood up from the bed and took another deep breath. She waited a few minutes until she stopped hearing noises from the other room before quietly opening her door and stepping into the hallway. Typically a quiet walker, her heels clacked on the wood floor as she nervously approached the guest room.

She held her fist up to the door and prepared to knock but thought better of it. Instead, she reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, her heart practically beating out of her chest and her cheeks flushed.

The lights were still on when she opened the door. Cloud was lying on his bed, reading. He looked up when she entered, and she could have sworn she saw a quick glint in his eye and the corners of his lips curl. She didn't know how hard he had to fight to not react to the sight of her in the doorway.

She was leaning her shoulder against the doorframe, with her other hand resting on her hip. She was wearing the blue dress she wore when Cloud saved her from Don Corneo. She wore a tied choker around her neck and heels the color of her dress. The dress itself was more lingerie than actual clothing. It was a halter dress that barely covered her breasts and bottom. The back plunged to her hip bones.

She was clearly uncomfortable and kept trying to hide herself with her hair. But then she'd quickly remember what she was trying to do and brush her hair back behind her shoulder again.

She knew this was a stupid move. Cloud knew what she looked like and knew what it was like to be with her sexually. Yet it had been months since they had been physical, and she thought that maybe this kind of bold reminder might snap him out of his prolonged funk.

"Tifa…" Cloud said in a dejected tone.

Tifa didn't let it deter her. She walked over to the side of the bed and straddled him, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her and for a minute she thought her gambit had worked. He wasn't kissing back, but he wasn't pulling away from her either.

That lasted for no more than three seconds. Cloud gently twisted to the side, bringing Tifa with him off his lap. She stared at him with wide, hurt, and questioning eyes that were beginning to glisten.

"Tifa," Cloud said, looking away from her. "I can't."

"Why not? What's wrong?" she asked as the first tear escaped down her cheek.

Cloud still wouldn't look at her, but his voice was cold. "I don't want to, not anymore."

The words felt like a slap in the face to her, but also like a kind of closure; proof that he was really leaving her even if he hadn't actually done it. She swallowed the lump in her throat and jumped off the bed.

"I'm sorry," she said as she quickly left the room, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Tifa!" Cloud said as she left. He wanted to call her back and explain why he was acting this way, but his voice was barely more than a whisper.

He didn't want to leave her, but he was dying and a danger to her. His dreams had become so vivid that he woke up expecting to find a trail of blood leading to Tifa's body. He couldn't risk her life and he didn't want her to waste his last few months on earth taking care of him and watching him die - he knew what kind of toll that would take on her. He thought that if he acted cold and distant, she could move on quicker, but she was so loyal she just kept trying to help him. He should have expected that, and it hurt him every second of the day.

He forced himself to only look at her for a second at a time so she wouldn't accidentally catch him. He twisted out of her embraces because he knew if he didn't, he would give in and it would be impossible for him to protect her. He tried to think about Barret and Sephiroth when she walked in his room wearing that blue dress – it was almost too much for him to handle.

When she left he felt his heart die a little. He waited until he couldn't hear the sounds of her heels slapping against the wood floor before getting up and quietly walking to her – their – bedroom. The light was off when he slowly opened the door, but there was enough moonlight for him to see her lying in bed, curled up with her back to him. Her heels were sitting on the floor next to her. Cloud could see she was shaking and heard her sobs.

He knew he had done that to her. He had broken the only woman he loved, and she didn't know why. He closed the door and turned, with his hand still resting on the wooden slab. He closed his eyes for a moment to think about what he had to do now before returning to the guest room.

He left her the next night.

_Present day…_

"Tifa…" Cloud said when he fully entered her bedroom.

She didn't move, so he took a few steps closer to her.

"Tifa?" he asked; his voice low and soothing.

"What?" she asked harshly, without moving a muscle.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice sullen and sincere. "I didn't mean to say that."

Tifa sat up quickly and spun around to face him. Her cheeks were red and moist, her eyes puffy and bloodshot.

"But you did," she responded, her own voice dripping with hurt.

"It was just the shock of everything," Cloud acknowledged, glumly. "I thought everything would go back to the way it was but now I find out you've been with someone else." Tifa's eyes narrowed. "And not just anyone, but _Reno_."

"You _left_ me," Tifa snapped at him through a sob.

"For two months…" Cloud knew he didn't exactly have the high ground, and that maybe it was unfair to expect Tifa to sit around waiting for him to come back after he broke her heart, but part of him thought she would.

"It was longer than that and you know it," she responded.

There was less anger in her voice than there was pain, which hurt him even more. Tifa could never stay angry for very long, but she held her pain within for too long, sometimes. She tried to keep her feelings hidden, but Cloud could always tell when she was hurting.

"I'm sorry," he said again, hanging his head.

He met Tifa's gaze and saw her eyes watering and her pupils watering, searching for the what to say.

"Why didn't you just tell me what was going on with you?" she asked after silence fell between them. Cloud hesitantly moved to sit on the bed next to her, and she adjusted to give him space.

"I thought it would be easier for both of us," he said without looking at her. "I thought I was dying and I thought you were in danger because of me."

"You could have told me," Tifa replied. "But instead you made me think you stopped loving me. Do you know how much that hurt?"

"I know," Cloud said, lowering his head and staring at his lap for a moment instead of looking at Tifa. He then lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. "If I could go back and change things, I would," he said, placing his hand over hers.

"But we can't," Tifa said solemnly. Cloud sighed.

"I know," he said. "I thought you'd be able to move on better after I was gone if you spent that time hating me."

"I could never hate you," Tifa responded. "But just now, when you found out maybe I had moved on... you got mad."

"I know!" Cloud said, angrier at himself than anything else. "I guess I didn't think you would move on so quickly – or with _Reno_."

"It wasn't quick, Cloud!" she retorted, a certain defiance in her voice. "You left me months before that and made me think I was unlovable and worthless."

Cloud stood up from the bed abruptly.

"I know!" he said, still angry at himself, though that's not how it appeared to Tifa.

"And Reno and the Turks have been here for me!" she exclaimed, now defensive. "They've helped me fight the monsters that were destroying the town, they helped keep the bar going when business started to crumble, and they were there when I got shot! They took me to the hospital and brought me home the next morning. They did all of that for me - when you were gone."

"I was trying to get back to you…" Cloud trailed off, still facing the door and not Tifa.

"But I didn't know that then! All I knew was that the love of my life abandoned me. I thought it would be pathetic if I went looking for you like some lost little puppy," Tifa said, tears again flowing. "But I went to Aeris' church anyway and checked the villa and looked for you whenever I traveled…"

Cloud couldn't stand to listen to this. It wasn't that he didn't like hearing Tifa describe him as the "love of her life," or how she _did_ go looking for him, it was that he was being forced to listen to how he failed her, again. He turned to Tifa, masking his hurt with anger.

"But _Reno_, Tifa. Reno?" he asked. She merely stared back at him, a mixture of embarrassment, hurt, and anger on her face. Cloud sighed. "Do you love him?"

He feared the answer, of course, but in that moment he thought he had to know. He needed to know how badly he screwed up and if there was any hope of fixing what he had with Tifa. She didn't respond for a few moments, which caused him more anxiety. Finally, she looked down at her lap before speaking.

"I... don't know," she admitted.

"You don't know?" Cloud asked, folding his arms across his chest. "You don't _know_?"

As he looked at her his eyes glanced over to the dresser on the other side of the room. He reached it within a few strides, knowing exactly what he was looking for to make his point.

He was briefly hurt when he saw the photo of himself and Tifa lying face down behind the other framed pictures, especially since he didn't know whether Tifa or Reno had moved it. Ignoring that photo for a moment, he picked up the one of the early members of AVALANCHE and showed it to Tifa with some insistence.

"What about _them_, Tifa? What would they think?"

Tifa clenched her jaw.

"If they could tell us, it meant the plate never fell and we wouldn't be having this issue!"

"He _killed_ them Tifa! Have you forgotten that?"

"Of course not!" she retorted. "But he's different now. He's been helping…"

Cloud shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no redemption for a man who flattened an entire section of the largest city on earth without a second thought.

Tifa had always been too forgiving. Even though she vowed that she hated Shinra and wanted to destroy them for what happened in Nibelheim, she was having second thoughts by the time she and Cloud reunited. Maybe that made her a better person than him, but right now he couldn't see it.

"I need to get out of here," Cloud said after a moment.

"You're leaving, _again_?" Tifa asked in such a way that sent a knife through Cloud's heart.

His anger dissipated and he sat down on the bed with her again, tentatively placing a hand on her cheek. She didn't refuse him.

"Tifa, I'm not leaving like last time," he said, stroking her cheek. "I just want to get some air and clear my head. It's been such a long day and I think we're all just exhausted and cranky."

His words seemed to calm her a bit as well. Even when she was mad, she always seemed to find the humor in any situation.

"Yeah. It was stupid of me to invite everyone over for drinks instead of getting some rest first," Tifa said with a half laugh.

"It wasn't stupid; just bad timing," Cloud responded. "I'll come back, I swear."

He gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the room.

Tifa didn't even realize she had started holding her breath after he left until she heard the front door close behind him. He seemed to have softened before he left, but who knew what would happen once he was alone with his thoughts. She felt her heart begin to race as she considered all the horrible things he might be thinking about her.

But Cloud was right about being exhausted. After a few minutes of worrying she laid back down on her bed, too numb to cry anymore. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno didn't remember leaving the lights on when he left his apartment, but he had been gone a few days now and couldn't be sure. He slowly opened the door, letting his hand hover over the hilt of his mag rod just in case. His fingers twitched above his weapon until he entered his living room and saw Freyra sitting calmly on his couch, her legs crossed and her right arm resting comfortably on the raised side.

She didn't flinch when he entered. Instead, she casually turned her head to look at him as her long ashy blonde ponytail fell against her shoulder.

Reno groaned and tossed his keys on the end table near her before crossing his arms and giving her a stern look.

"Freyra, what are you doing here?" he asked, annoyed. "I thought I told you I was exhausted."

Freyra uncrossed her legs and rose to her feet to place a hand on her hip.

"I know, and I'm not here for the reason you think," she said. "Well, I _was_ going to come here for that, but then I heard you on the phone and I just wanted to thank you in person and make sure you're alright."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't actually hang up your phone after we talked. I thought at first you and 'Lena were talking about me, but I'm pretty sure you didn't bug my house," she offered him a questioning but sarcastic glance.

"Great," Reno said, rolling his eyes. Now _another_ person heard him emote all over the place.

"First, I want to thank you," Freyra said, smiling softly and crossing one arm over her stomach. "For saving my life."

Reno chortled before raising a hand in the air to wave off her appreciation. "It was nothing, yo."

"If it weren't for you, I would have died above the crater, Reno. The Highwind may have survived the cave-in but our helicopter wouldn't have," Freyra bit her lower lip briefly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," it felt foreign for Reno to say.

"Also, thank you for paying me – with interest," she added with a smirk.

Reno looked down to notice for the first time a black duffle bag near Freyra's feet.

"Interest?"

"Yeah! I took the money from the drawer and found a little extra elsewhere."

"You stole my escape stash?!" Reno asked. He also had a bag of gil, fake IDs, and clothing in his work desk in case he needed to make a quick getaway and had no time to go home. He realized that her snooping through his desk was how she figured out where he lived as well.

"Don't worry, I left everything else," Freyra teased.

"Fine, keep it," Reno groaned. "Now can you please let me get some rest?"

Freyra ignored him and instead sat back down on the couch.

"So, who is she?" Freyra asked casually.

"Who?"

"The woman who got 100,000-thousand gil flowers," Freyra answered, crossing her slender legs again. She really looked good in a Turk uniform.

Reno huffed and walked over to his oversized leather armchair on the far end of the couch. He collapsed into it, his long fingers gripping the edge of the armrest as he sunk back into the chair. He rarely sat on these chairs. It was too easy to make a fool of oneself by underestimating how far one would sink into them – and Reno did not want to be a fool.

"She's no one. It doesn't matter. It's over," Reno said.

"Reno, we've known each other, what, 10 years now? And in all that time I've never seen you like this. I'm not going to lie, it hurts a little that I wasn't the girl who made you feel this way, but honestly? I'm actually kind of happy that you _are_ capable of feeling something."

"Come on, Freyra," Reno said.

"Seriously. You've never gone to such lengths to win someone over or been this hung up on anyone, and I have a very limited knowledge of this relationship. Just from what little I've seen, something's different with you."

Reno rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's over, so you can forget all that," he said.

"It doesn't sound like it's over for you," Freyra said in a sisterly tone.

"Well it is," Reno pouted. "Now that Cloud Strife is back, I have no chance."

"Cloud Strife? _The_ Cloud Strife?" Freyra asked.

Reno leaned back into the chair and groaned yet again.

"Yes, _the_ Cloud Strife," he said, mocking her previous emphasis.

"So, that would mean the girl is…"

"Tifa Lockhart," Reno said, sounding more defeated than Freyra expected.

"The little girl with the cat?"

"Huh?"

"I remember her back in Nibelheim," Freyra said, reminiscing. "She must have been 15. She was chasing a cat around and we hired her to guide us through the mountains."

Freyra's eyes suddenly grew and she looked at Reno with a raised nostril and look of disgust.

"Wait – you haven't liked her since _then_ have you?"

"No, Freyra! God!" Reno insisted. "I wasn't even on that mission – it was you and Tseng."

"Oh yeah, whew. For a minute there…"

"No way, this isn't a Tseng situation," Reno said. And then Freyra made that face they all made whenever they were reminded that Tseng had watched Aeris grow up and fallen for her – at some point. He always said he developed feelings for the Ancient long after she turned 18, but it was always a little creepy to the rest of them. They respected their leader, but that didn't stop them from occasionally making light of the situation.

"So, when _did_ you start falling for her?"

"I'm not _falling_ for her," Reno again insisted. "But I guess I first noticed her when she kicked me in the face on top of the Sector 7 pillar."

"Of course. Most classic love stories begin that way," Freyra teased.

"Yeah, well, that's why there's no point in thinking there will be some happy ending here."

Freyra couldn't object. Reno may seem different now, may even love Tifa, but he was competing against Cloud Strife – the world's hero. That was a steep hill to climb.

The two fell into an awkward silence before Freyra sighed and, placing her hands on her thighs, pushed herself up off the couch and turned toward the door.

"Well, guess I'll be heading out then," she said.

Her voice startled Reno, who had dozed off during the brief pause in their conversation. He jerked awake and focused his eyes on Freyra's slim form.

She turned back toward him once she reached the door, as if she were thinking of something else to say.

"If you want my advice," she began, bringing a finger to her chin thoughtfully "I think you should send her an apology before she has a chance to stew too much longer."

Reno looked up at her through heavy-lidded eyes. He could barely stay awake and knew sending an apology in a _text_ wasn't good enough.

"I'm not sending her some sappy text. I'm not putting any of this in writing that can be traced back and used against me," Reno said plainly.

"The consummate professional," Freyra said, almost to herself.

"Besides, I'm tired and it'll only come off as pathetic and probably incoherent."

Freyra's eyes lit up.

"Let me write it," she offered.

"What? No!" Reno said tersely. Honestly, all he wanted to do was sleep right now. He couldn't think about anything else, especially not something so serious.

"Oh, come on, I know what a girl would want to hear," Freyra pushed.

Reno narrowed his eyes, trying in his diminished state to ascertain whether this was all some further ruse to get back at him. He couldn't hand over his phone to Freyra and give her access to it, even if it might be brief. She could type something cruel to Tifa as some final "fuck you" for what happened between them so many years ago – and throughout the years since.

He studied her expression for what seemed like minutes. Her brow was relaxed and her smile soft, genuine. Her eyes showed no hint of betrayal, but that was Freyra's talents – one of many. Reno took a deep breath and reached in his pocket for his PHS.

"What are you going to say – and," he said abruptly, holding up one finger – "if I let you do this, I want you to never bring this up again. And make sure everyone else stops, too. I'm your second in command, dammit. My personal life is off limits."

Freyra pouted for a minute before grinning.

"Whatever you say, boss."

She returned to where Reno was sitting and reached for the phone in his outstretched hand, but he quickly retreated.

"Freyra."

"I'm just going to tell her you're sorry for being an ass – I assume you were – and that you didn't mean what you said. I'll even let you read it before hitting 'send.'"

Reno held his phone out of reach a second more to stare deep into Freyra's eyes. He puffed his lower eyelids slightly to give her a look that said, "you better not screw me," before timidly offering her his phone, which she quickly snatched.

She immediately stood straight up so that she was out of his reach while he sat on the chair and began searching his phone for Tifa's number. Once she found it, she walked away from Reno, behind his couch, while furiously typing.

Reno was already regretting this decision. A text wasn't enough to undo the damage he had caused. Worse yet, Tifa could show it to Cloud and all her friends and he'd lose the reputation he had built over his career. It was bad enough his coworkers were now treating him like some lovesick puppy, but they always knew there was more to him than a ruthless bastard. But he couldn't risk word of that getting out to the general population. His job and his life depended on people still fearing him.

After a few moments, Freyra was standing over him again and holding his phone in her upturned palm so he could take it. He grabbed it and made sure she hadn't hit send before looking up at her skeptically and a little disgusted.

"_This_ is what you want me to say to her? I sound like a sap."

"Trust me, Reno, it's what I would want to hear from you," Freyra assured him.

Reno's nostrils flared and he strained his neck to show how uncomfortable he was with the message. Until now he had always gotten by with short, suggestive comments. He'd never had to say something like this to a woman before. Well, he probably should have said it to a lot of women, but he never did.

"Just send it," Freyra said after Reno took too long to respond.

"Fine!" he blurted, hitting the button to send the message to Tifa.

His heart started racing as he started fearing her response – if he even got one. Is this how women felt waiting for him to text back? It was awful.

"It's done," Reno said, slowly rising to his feet. "I'm going to crash. Lock the door on your way out and don't steal anything."

Freyra nodded and smiled before slipping out of Reno's apartment with her bag of gil as Reno disappeared into his bedroom.


	39. A Long Rest

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Should also remind everyone that Square Enix owns these characters and all things Final Fantasy VII.**

**I told myself I wouldn't respond to any more reviews but it was nice to have a bunch of positive ones for a change. I'm glad people still enjoy this story. Special shout out to "from a cloti fan" for absolutely **_**nailing**_** what I was going for while writing Reno for this story.**

**Also, because I'm playing (and loving) the remake, I'm going to start incorporating bits from it when discussing past incidents, but I'm not going to ret-con anything if it's different from what I've already written. Just some possible minor changes to how I write about the past going forward.**

Chapter 39:

Tifa certainly didn't think she had fallen asleep right after Cloud left. She remembered thinking she was tired enough to immediately pass out, but instead she tossed and turned for a while. She was certainly exhausted from the past few days – first the Forgotten Capital, then Cloud coming home and trying to take care of him, then the biggest battle of their lives and surviving the Northern Crater as it collapsed, drinking and serving as hostess, her fight with Reno, her fight with _Cloud_. As she flipped from side to side, she remembered opening her eyes during each shift and memorizing the part of her bedroom she could see.

Yet now, the loud, familiar buzz of her PHS jolted her from a short nap as it shifted on her nightstand. As she struggled to focus, she started to remember bits and pieces of an odd dream she had: She was living with Cloud in her childhood home in Nibelheim, but for some reason was friends with and interested in some celebrity she hadn't thought about in months. It was strange and made no sense.

Her room was darker than when Cloud left, but still had light enough for her to see everything without needing to turn on a light. She felt sick from lack of sleep. Her head ached and her whole body felt unpleasantly warm inside. She rolled over and reached for her phone with a groan, silently cursing whoever sent her a message right now. All she wanted to do was sleep and forget about this day. If it was a member of AVALANCHE asking how she was doing, she was prepared to not answer even though she couldn't just ignore the message now that she was awake and knew it existed. And she didn't really want it to be from Cloud or Reno either, fearful that they would continue their fight with her.

She brought her phone closer to her face, blinking and focusing her eyes as the light from it temporarily blinded her and made her headache worse. This message better be worth it.

When her eyes had focused, she felt her heart drop and butterflies return to her stomach.

"1 text message from Reno."

She was worried he had sent her more of his thoughts on why Cloud didn't love her or say something petty just to hurt her. She could just close her phone and leave it for tomorrow, but she knew if she tried that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and would worry herself over what it said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before clicking open the message.

_Tifa_

_I'm sorry for my behavior and the stupid things I said today. I was wrong, cruel, and a total asshole. You mean the world to me and I never want to hurt you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me._

Tifa blinked a few times to make sure she was reading this correctly. Reno usually just sent short, flirtatious texts. She never would have expected him to send something like this. She would have thought that if he even _were_ to apologize, he would do it with some grand gesture like Nibelweiss flowers or something she loved that she didn't even remember telling him about. But never an apologetic text.

She closed her phone and realized she was smiling. At least _Reno_ didn't hate her. She didn't want to text him back since he might be in the same position as her between awake and asleep. She flipped her phone closed and returned it to its place on her nightstand, figuring she could text him when she woke up the next day. Any more discussions between them would have to wait until they both caught up on their sleep.

She curled back into her usual sleeping position and fell asleep without much trouble.

_Later…_

This time Tifa was startled awake by a familiar voice, pressure on the edge of the bed near her legs, and a gentle shake of her shoulder.

She felt sicker this time, as she was fully aware she had fallen asleep after she read the text from Reno. Her insides felt hot, yet she could feel the coolness of the room on her skin. She also noticed that it was nearly night, as everything in her room – including the man sitting on her bed – was a mere silhouette against what little light remained at dusk. Of course, the men in her life were easy to spot by their silhouettes, and she instantly recognized Cloud as he nudged her awake.

He had come back, just like he promised this time.

"Tifa," he said once she pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"Cloud?" she said, still trying to get her bearings.

"I told you I'd come back," he responded, a lightness in his voice she hadn't heard in a while.

"You did," she said with a smile.

"Tifa, I've been thinking," Cloud said, his tone now serious. It made Tifa's heart drop as she feared he was about to leave her for good because of Reno. "It was selfish of me to assume you'd be waiting to take me back like nothing had happened. I want you back, but I have to do it properly."

"What do you mean?"

"Tifa," he began, reaching out to take her hands as she sat up completely, "I got a hotel room."

Tifa gasped. Was he moving out?

"It's just for a little while – at least I hope," he said quickly to assuage her fears. "I just realized that we've both led… non-traditional lives. I mean, we got together while chasing a homicidal maniac around the world and defeating an alien from another planet."

Tifa reached over to turn on the lamp on her nightstand so she could see his expression better. He didn't seem to be leaving her, yet she was nervous and anxious about what he was about to say.

"We've always done things differently because of our circumstances," Cloud continued as Tifa just looked at him, confused. "This time I want to do things the right way and hopefully ease back into a relationship, if you want."

Tifa cocked her head and let her lips part as if she were about to speak, but no words came out. Cloud wanted to kiss her so badly at that moment, but he knew he couldn't.

He had spent the past few hours going over everything he had learned that day about Tifa and Reno.

At first, he was angry and hurt. He was also exhausted, so he went to get coffee instead of burying himself in alcohol – that's what Reno would do. He sat in a nearby coffee shop for a while just thinking and worrying. He found himself thinking about what _Reno_ would do a lot. Was Reno funnier than him? More interesting? Better in bed?

"_Oh God_," Cloud thought, "_he must be_."

He worried that even though he wanted to hold Tifa again, he wouldn't be able to look at her or touch her without wondering whether Reno had been better at various acts. He suddenly realized what Tifa must have gone through when Aeris was alive; how she must have compared herself to the Ancient and worried that she wasn't as positive or interesting.

If Tifa was able to overcome that fear, maybe he could, too.

He looked around the coffee shop. There were several people who kept glancing over toward him and whispering amongst themselves, clearly questioning if they were indeed in the same shop as Cloud Strife. He scoffed and ignored them. He was polite if people came up to him wanting to meet him or get an autograph or picture, but he ultimately didn't like the attention.

Then he noticed a young, nervous couple enter the shop. The woman's face was flushed and the man kept asking her if this place was okay and what she wanted to order. Cloud watched as they made only a few timid comments to each other as they waited for their coffee and then sat at a small table near him. They must have been on a first date. As they drank their coffee they began to get more comfortable with each other, and were soon engrossed in conversation. They laughed and discovered things they had in common and were really getting to know each other.

Cloud realized he had never really been on a first date. Even his date with Tifa at the Gold Saucer was more about taking their mind off their journey than anything having to do with starting an actual romance.

It was then the idea hit him. He and Tifa should rekindle their relationship the way most relationships start – with dates and flirting and eagerly waiting to see the person again. He figured that would not only help her to trust him again and remember what they had but would give him time to get through his fears of inadequacy. He'd always had them, for sure, but at least he knew back then that Tifa had no one to compare him to. He certainly tried to give her everything she wanted, and she never seemed unsatisfied or unwilling, but he always had that fear in the back of his mind.

"What are you saying, Cloud?" Tifa asked, snapping him back to the present.

"I want to give you the relationship you've always deserved. I want to prove to you that I'm back for good and that from now on, I'll always be open and honest with you about what I'm going through," he responded.

Tifa smiled. "That sounds wonderful."

"I also want to prove to you that I'm the man you should be with, Tifa," Cloud continued. "So, I'm going to stay in a hotel to give us both space, but I want to take you out on dates – the way relationships are supposed to start."

Tifa's smile widened. Cloud was right, they both needed time and space to find their ways back to each other – or not. She smiled for the prospect of the dates she had never been on before, not for the distance.

"I think that's a good idea," she responded, before a quick laugh escaped her lips. "We never did do the whole 'dating' thing. We ran around the Gold Saucer, then we… under the Highwind… and then we lived together."

Cloud looked at her for a moment, a slight smile across his lips. He had hoped Tifa would have objected to the hotel; he must really have his work cut out for him, but he was glad she had agreed to date him.

"Well, this time let's do it right," he said. Tifa nodded. "So, would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow night?"

Tifa lit up before her face quickly soured.

"I _really_ want to, but I feel so lousy right now," she said, her eyes shifting away from his. "I don't know how long I'll end up sleeping or how I'll feel when I wake up."

"Yeah, to be honest, I'm exhausted, too," Cloud replied. "Okay, how about this: Eight o'clock tomorrow, but check in when you wake up to let me know how you're feeling. We can always reschedule if we need more rest."

"Sounds good," Tifa said, her smile returning.

"Alright," Cloud said while getting off the bed, "I'm going to grab some of my stuff and head back to the hotel. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow, but if not, feel better."

"You too," Tifa said.

She watched as Cloud gathered some clothes from the dresser and closet and went into the bathroom to grab some toiletries. When he had everything he needed, he returned to where she was still sitting up on the bed and leaned over to kiss her quickly on the lips.

They lingered a moment longer than he expected, which made him want more, but he felt it safer to wait. He didn't want her to think that he just wanted her back for sex, or that he wouldn't take her on a date if things escalated.

With an internal struggle, he pulled away from her, his hand having found hers and their fingers now entwined as he stepped back toward the door. When their arms were fully outstretched, they let go of each other, and Tifa watched him once again walk out her bedroom door. This time, however, she wasn't afraid that he'd never come back.

_The next evening…_

Tifa finally woke up all on her own, though she immediately wanted to go back to sleep once her eyes fluttered open. Her room was dark – not as dark as last night when she was talking to Cloud, but dark enough to let her know she had slept almost an entire day. And she felt too sick to get up. She felt hungover even though she hadn't had alcohol since the afternoon before. She felt hot and cold at the same time, and her head was throbbing.

She closed her eyes again hoping to go back to sleep, but she felt so gross she needed to get up to shower and take a potion. That helped quite a bit, but she still knew she was in no shape to go out and put forth her best effort to impress Cloud. He may think he was trying to woo her back, but she also felt as though she needed to prove something to him.

She put on a silk nightie and climbed back into bed, feeling fresher than before. While she wanted to just put her head down and close her eyes, she instead reached for her PHS to call Cloud. Even though she had known him her entire life and they knew everything about each other, she found herself nervous as the phone rang on the other end. Nervous like she was when he first came back into her life years ago in Midgar; nervous like she imagined a teen girl calling her crush. After the third ring, Cloud answered, his voice rough.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Cloud," Tifa said, fearful that he would take her canceling as a sign she wasn't interested anymore. "I really, _really_ want to go on a date with you tonight, but I _just_ woke up and I feel awful. I just need to sleep. I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Cloud chuckled.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I also just woke up and feel about the same. Is this what it's like not to have Jenova cells in your body?"

It was Tifa's turn to laugh.

"Welcome to the real world," she teased.

"Guess I have a lot to learn," Cloud replied. "So, let's plan on a date tomorrow then? I'll let you get back to sleep."

"I'd like that," Tifa said, her smile evident in her voice. She closed her phone and set it back on the nightstand before lying back on her pillow and falling asleep once more.

_The next morning…_

Reno didn't really know what he was doing. It wasn't his first time in a flower shop, but it was his first time in a flower shop looking for rare, specific flowers for a girl he was trying to apologize to and impress. Usually if he was in such a shop he was buying daisies and white carnations for grave stones or purple hyacinths for the widows of those that had died as a result of his job. Even though he wanted forgiveness, he didn't want to give Tifa the same flowers he gave anonymously to widows.

No, he had a specific flower in mind for her, but he didn't see it in the shop. Not wanting to be seen spending any more time in a flower shop than absolutely necessary, he decided to give up and ask someone for help. He didn't see anyone mulling about the shop, but when he looked past the main counter, he recognized Cloud Strife and groaned.

Reno had slept clear through yesterday after passing out when Freyra left the day before that. He'd woken up a few hours ago and after a lot of deliberation about going back to bed, decided he needed to figure out how to better apologize to Tifa instead, especially since she hadn't texted him back. The flower shops weren't open when he woke up, so he showered and dressed and had a cup of coffee before strolling over shortly after business commenced.

He did a lap around the store for the flowers he wanted but couldn't find them, so he took another, slower, more careful look. Now he was standing near a display case of pre-made bouquets in vases and staring at his rival, who also seemed to have slept an entire day. At least they were on equal footing, Reno thought.

He pretended not to notice Cloud and walked up to the empty counter space next to him. Reno leaned over the counter on one elbow and cleared his throat to get the attention of the woman behind the counter who wasn't helping Cloud. Reno made sure he spoke loud enough for Cloud to hear what he was asking.

"Can you help me find the Nibelweiss?" Reno asked.

Yeah, it would be cliché of him to get her the same flowers now as he had back when she had been shot, but he thought the rarity and memory of her favorite buds would make her smile more than telling her he was sorry with boring old roses, or whatever _Cloud_ was buying.

"I'm sorry, we don't normally carry those flowers. They're really rare," the shopworker said to him. "We can put in a special order for you but they won't be here until tomorrow, unfortunately."

Reno tapped his fingers simultaneously on the counter and glanced over at the flowers Cloud was purchasing, which were sitting on the counter in front of him wrapped in green tissue paper and plastic.

Nibelweiss.

That _bastard_. Of _course_ he knew Tifa's favorite flower. He must have ordered them yesterday while Reno was sleeping. Dammit.

Cloud had noticed Reno after he asked about the flowers, snapping his head to look at his rival and wonder just how close emotionally he had gotten to Tifa to know her favorite flower. Reno caught his eye and Cloud immediately snapped back to finish paying for his purchase.

"No, that's okay, flowers are pretty cliché anyway," Reno said to get under Cloud's skin.

He then pushed himself off the counter, placed his hands in his pockets, and sauntered out of the shop. Once outside, he removed a cigarette from its package and placed it between his lips before pulling out his lighter to ignite the tip. He looked both ways before decided to jog across the street to get away from Cloud – and look as nonchalant about it as possible.

The truth was Cloud – despite telling himself he was going to be open and honest with Tifa – hadn't been completely truthful the night before when he told her he had just woken up. While he did need more time to recover now that he was free of the Jenova cells, he still didn't need as much rest some of the other members of AVALANCHE.

He had woken up earlier in the afternoon the day before but didn't want to call Tifa in case she was sick and still sleeping. He instead headed out to the best flower shop in town to buy her favorite flowers for their date later that night. When he entered the shop, he, like Reno, took a lap to find the flowers himself. When he couldn't, he walked around a second time, looking more carefully. He was halfway around when a woman who worked their stopped him to ask if he needed help. He certainly didn't look like a man who knew his way around flowers.

He asked for Nibelweiss and the woman gave the same explanation as she had given to Reno, so Cloud placed a special order. He was kicking himself about not having the desired flowers to present to Tifa on their date that night, and he was actually relieved when she called to say she was still recovering.

Of course, he _wanted_ to see her with or without flowers, but he really wanted their first date to be something special and reminding her of their childhood – and hopefully not Sephiroth's rampage – was something he thought could entice her.

He was going to take her to a nice restaurant, but after Reno said the word "cliché," he began to rethink how lame that idea was. Granted, he was supposed to be doing all the cliché early dating stuff to win her back, but he now worried that wouldn't be enough.

What was Reno planning? Probably something bigger than the flowers. Reno, Cloud thought, probably realized already that any idiot can take a woman to dinner. He must be planning something spectacular. Cloud couldn't let him get an edge.

The blond warrior pulled out his phone and dialed Cid Highwind's number. The pilot picked up after a couple rings, sounding like he had struggled to bring the phone to his ear.

"Hell– fuckin' ay. Hello?" Cid said on the other end.

"Well, hell fuckin' ay to you too, Cid," Cloud responded.

"Sorry man, just workin' on the Highwind. Nearly dropped the Goddamned phone down into the pipes. Whatcha need?"

"I was hoping you could do me a huge favor."

"Whassat?"

"I'd like to take Tifa someplace special today."

"Say no more, just tell me what ya need."

_A little later…_

Reno was walking back to his apartment after a few errands when he heard the unmistakable sound of the Highwind overhead. He looked up to see the underbelly of the ship temporarily block out the sun as it passed over him toward Southern Edge. He watched as the ship lowered and then hovered just outside the southern entrance to the city.

He was too far away to see anything after that, but he knew Cloud must be taking Tifa somewhere. He waited outside his apartment building to smoke a cigarette and wait to see which direction the ship headed once it took off. But after he had finished one cigarette and pulled out another, he figured he could try to walk toward Seventh Heaven and check things out. If he didn't make it in time, he's still be able to see the Highwind fly away.

The ship was still hovering outside of town when Reno came up a side street onto the main road a few blocks from the bar. He hid around the corner of a building and poked his head around to watch the front door. He finished a third cigarette before the door to Seventh Heaven finally opened and Cid exited, clearly in the middle of some story. He was waving his arms around for emphasis and Reno could see Cloud and Tifa were laughing when they left the building. After Tifa locked up, the three began walking down the sidewalk toward the airship.

Reno felt that hot pit of jealousy in his stomach again as he saw what Tifa was wearing: Her modified outfit with the pleated skirt and thigh-high stockings. Reno sneered. She had bought that outfit to entice _him_, not _Cloud_, yet now that chocobo-headed, do-gooding, mopey son-of-a-bitch was getting to enjoy it.

Reno watched until the airship returned to the sky and flew away. South. Southwest. He thought about what towns were in that direction. Cloud could be taking her to Costa del Sol, which would be the obvious thing to do, but Costa was just slightly south, mostly west of Midgar. And Cloud knew Tifa better than to take her to the beach for a date, Reno thought.

Maybe they were going to see that red beast in Cosmo Canyon? Possibly, but that also didn't seem like a good idea to win someone back. Or maybe Tifa just _loved_ that creature. Could Cid be picking them up for his engagement party? No, that seemed like unnecessary work on his part to deliver his own guests, and Rocket Town was northwest.

Reno's eyes snapped wide when he came to a sudden realization.

"No," he mouthed.

In the back of his mind earlier that day he had a memory flash of something Tifa had said a while back.

"_What's your favorite place that you've been?"_

"_What about you?"_

"_The Gold Saucer."_

"_Really? Thought you would have said Costa del Sol or maybe even Icicle Inn. Why an amusement park?"_

"_I'd always wanted to go there as a kid, and the second time I went there I watched the fireworks. It was the prettiest thing I'd seen since the stars in Nibelheim."_

Reno had planned to take here to the Gold Saucer when he could get her alone. He had even worked out how to "borrow" the Shinra helicopter again. Now Strife was taking her there and Reno would have to think of something different. How in the hell was _Cloud Strife_ now one step ahead of him at every turn? Back during the Sephiroth days, the Turks were always ahead of AVALANCHE. That was work, but now that Reno actually wanted something for himself personally, he was behind Cloud? It was certainly frustrating to the redhead.

He attempted to scuff the ground with a kick but ended up ramming his toe into the pavement, letting out a howl of pain. He lifted his foot and clutched it in his hand, hopping on his other foot and cursing. This was _not_ his day.

He needed to come up with a new way to impress Tifa since he couldn't copy Cloud. He shoved his hands in his pockets, letting his fourth cigarette dangle from his lip, and headed back to his apartment once his toe stopped throbbing. He was just about at his front door when he figured out what he should be doing. There was something he was sure Tifa had questions about, and Reno decided the best way to win her over was to answer them. He had never seen himself as the domestic type; never thought he'd settle down with a woman, but this absence from Tifa had made him think about some uncomfortable things, which he tried to shake.

He pulled out his PHS and called Rude.

"Hey, buddy," he said, an impish grin on his face. "I need your help."

_Meanwhile…_

Cloud went straight to Seventh Heaven after he picked up the flowers for Tifa. His heart jumped and heat pooled in his loins when she opened the door wearing a variation of her famous outfit. Cloud couldn't help but look at her legs and work his way up. She was a vision, but still had that tough-as-nails edge. The stockings particularly drove him mad. She smiled, as he didn't hide his amazement very well, and motioned for him to enter the bar. As he did so he presented her the flowers, which made her smile even wider. Cloud was rarely spontaneous.

"For me?"

"Of course."

"Thank you!" Tifa was smiling wider than she expected.

"So, what's up?" she asked once they were inside.

"We're going out," Cloud responded.

"Now?"

"Are you busy?"

"No… how long will we be? What do I need to wear? Where are we going?"

Cloud raised a finger to silence her, a smirk crossing his lips

"It's a surprise. What you're wearing is—" he stepped back to look her up and down once more "—perfect."

Tifa blushed and smiled at him. She hadn't planned on wearing this on their date, but she had also assumed it would be later in the evening instead of now. Cloud had surprised her by knocking on her door and giving her Nibelweiss flowers.

Soon after there was another knock at the door. Tifa gave Cloud a look of confusion, but he smiled back at her with a shrug indicating whoever was at the door was part of the surprise. Tifa hadn't stopped smiling, and quickly opened the door to find Cid staring back at her.

"Cid!" she exclaimed, figuring out that the airship was at least part of Cloud's plan.

The pilot entered the bar with a wave, hugging Tifa and nodding toward Cloud.

"You two working things out?" he asked, looking Cloud and then Tifa. The two blushed, though Cloud was better at hiding it. "Ah, I see. Well, hopefully this helps: Shera said yes!"

Tifa clasped her hands together in front of her chest and did a little enthusiastic hop before running toward Cid and throwing her arms around his neck.

"That's great!" she said.

"Congrats, man," Cloud said, taking a step toward Cid and giving him a pat on the shoulder before returning to his standard pose with his arms folded across his chest.

He _was_ happy for Cid and hoped the engagement news might get Tifa thinking about commitment again. Cloud knew she had wanted that before his headaches started, but he wasn't ready at the time. Even before the vivid nightmares and migraines, he worried what would happen to Tifa if he stuck around. He told himself he was doing it to protect her from whatever came after her because of his presence, but he knew it was more selfish than that – he simply didn't want to give her up until he thought he had to.

"Do you have a picture of the ring?" Tifa asked, bringing Cloud out of his thoughts. This sounded like progress.

"Of course I got a fuckin' picture, you think I came here empty handed?" Cid groused while taking out his PHS and opening his photos. After a few seconds of scrolling, he offered his phone to Tifa, who took it quickly and held it close with two hands.

"It's beautiful!" she said, looking up at him. There was just a twinge of surprise in her voice. "I didn't think you'd pick something so… beautiful."

"Hey! I'll have you know I've got a refined taste, missy," Cid scolded. "I may be all gears and grease, but I can pick out a pretty rock."

Tifa chuckled and handed the phone to Cloud. "Oh, okay," she said, putting her hands up in mock apology. "I'm sorry I misjudged your rock-picking ways."

Cloud let out a snort at Tifa's antics as he looked at the ring. He didn't understand what made it "beautiful," as Tifa said. It was just a simple gold band with three round diamonds on it, the outer two smaller than the middle. Would Tifa like something like this? He mentally catalogued the image away for another day and handed Cid's phone back to him.

"You two comin' to the engagement party next week, right?" Cid asked, putting his PHS away.

"Yep!" Tifa said, beaming and leaning forward just so slightly.

"Uh, yeah," Cloud agreed, hoping he'd at least be on track to be in a relationship with Tifa again by then.

"Great. Well, probably time to head back to the crew, y'all ready? I'm not coming back if you forgot anything," Cid said.

"Um, I think so," Tifa replied, still having no clue where they were going.

"We're good," Cloud said flatly.

"Then let's get the fuck outta this town." Cid headed to the door and reached for the knob.

"So, how did you ask her?" Tifa said as Cid opened the door. He paused and turned back to her.

"Well, I wanted to surprise her by dropping it in her tea, but the woman took so long I got anxious and told her to hurry up," Cid said, rubbing the back of his head. "She was confused, so she drank the rest of the tea in one gulp... and she started choking on the ring."

"Oh no!" Tifa said, raising her hands to her mouth.

"So, I jumped outta my chair and ran around to give her that maneuver to get the thing outta her throat," Cid said, exiting the bar and continuing out onto the sidewalk, using his hands to emphasize the story. "And I'm behind her like 'Goddamit Shera don't you die on me right now!' and finally she coughed it up and when she saw what it was she started screaming. I thought she was mad or upset but she started saying 'yes, yes, yes' as she was still coughing."

Cloud and Tifa were laughing as they followed him out of the bar. It was such a Cid and Shera story.

They walked out of town and to the Highwind without an issue. In the two days since they had returned from the Northern Crater, crews had been traveling the roads between towns trying to cull some of the monsters that were still overpopulating Gaia. There was still a lot of work to be done, but at least the fiends were staying away from towns and vehicles now.

Cid climbed up the rope ladder to board the airship and immediately headed down below to the bridge while Cloud and Tifa remained on deck. Tifa walked to the railing opposite the rope ladder and gripped it with her hands to lean over and look out across the desert plains surrounding Midgar. It looked so much better now that the fiends had been reduced. She hadn't seen it like this in so long, and she relished the new view and the soft breeze blowing against her skin.

She turned around when she heard Cloud's footsteps behind her and leaned back against the railing.

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

"Like I said, it's a surprise," Cloud responded. "Which reminds me…" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a black strip of cloth. "I'm going to need you to wear this."

"A blindfold?" Tifa asked. Cloud nodded.

Things were getting interesting. Tifa was liking this side of Cloud. She never would have expected him to surprise her or do something like this for her.

"Wait, can we wait until we're sitting in the conference room? I don't think it'd be very safe to wear a blindfold while standing on the deck of a moving airship."

"Good idea," Cloud said.

They descended into the ship's hull and Tifa took a seat in the conference room. Cloud walked behind her and wrapped the blindfold around her head, covering her eyes.

"Can you see?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Total darkness."

Cloud took a seat across from her and rested his forearms on the table. He watched as Tifa flattened her palms on the surface to steady herself once the ship jolted and prepared to take off. He smiled to himself, imagining how excited she would be once she realized where they were going. He hoped they could recreate their previous date at the Gold Saucer but for the better. This time, he wouldn't be worried about Sephiroth, or Jenova, or Shinra. He wouldn't be thinking about Aeris or what their next move would be. He would be able to enjoy himself and focus on Tifa this time, and give her the night at the Gold Saucer she always wanted.


	40. The Gold Saucer

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 40:

"So, let me get this straight," Rude said as he stood in Reno's kitchen, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "You call me over here – in the middle of the day – to help you win over the woman that _**I**_ was in love with?"

Reno shifted uncomfortably from where he sat on his countertop, his legs dangling over the edge and lightly tapping his dishwasher.

"Well, when you put it _that_ way, it sounds kinda shitty," Reno said, hanging his head in shame. He had been so desperate to find a way to stand out from Cloud that he didn't even consider Rude's feelings in the matter, and now he felt like a complete ass. "I'm sorry, man."

"Relax," Rude said after letting Reno wallow a few minutes. "I'll help, but why didn't you call Elena for this?"

"For _this_?" Reno scoffed. "Don't you remember the last time she invited us over for her cooking? She thought you could replace sugar with salt because they look the same!"

Rude tilted his head upward at the thought, and a quick hint of a smile graced his lips as he grunted.

"Oh, right."

"Besides, I have her working on something else tomorrow, and didn't you once spend three months training under some master chef to go under cover?" Reno replied.

Rude again grunted to confirm.

"So… what should I cook?" Reno tried to offer his most sincere yet vulnerable smile.

Rude, with one arm still folded across his chest, brought the index finger of his other hand up to his chin to think for a moment.

"Before I give you my suggestion, I need you to do one thing for me," he said, his eyes focused intently on Reno's through dark-tinted glasses.

Reno's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open a little in surprise. Rude was seriously helping him, but also clearly setting a trap. He knew that whatever he would agree to would not be pleasant. On the other hand, having to come up with his own idea on what to cook for Tifa was probably just as unpleasant. At the very least it was inconvenient, as Rude was standing right here and looking up a recipe and figuring it out on his own might require skills he wasn't willing to admit he didn't have. Better to have Rude walk him through it.

Reno let his eyes roll to the side as he scoffed.

"Tch, fine, whatever," Reno said, averting his gaze from Rude's and mimicking the bald man's stance with his arms crossed.

Rude continued to stare at Reno, his eyes penetrating even though they were covered by the glasses. If Reno didn't know any better he would have thought Rude had been frozen in place with some Stop materia. The man _really_ knew how to intimidate. Reno held out as long as he could, looking away from Rude. Unfortunately, that meant he was just staring at the point where the side wall of his kitchen met the half wall of the pass-through. Beyond that, the panoramic window of his living room, but he was at such an angle that he couldn't see anything outside. Having quickly grown bored of the non-view, he finally felt his nose twitch and he knew he had been bested. One could not beat Rude at a staring contest.

Reno sighed and rolled his head to look at Rude.

"I want you to admit that you love her," Rude said at last.

Reno's pupils dilated and what little color he had drained from his face. Admit _that_!? It wasn't even true, he kept telling himself. He'd never been in love before and damned if he was going to start now. Rude was wrong, this was still just a game… right? He just wanted to beat Cloud Strife for once… and in the most important way.

"Admit _what_?" Reno feigned confusion.

"Admit you're doing all this because you actually love her, and it's not a game to you anymore," Rude said, having not moved a muscle since his last statement.

"You want me to admit to a lie?"

Rude didn't relent.

"So, you want me to say I'm doing this because I love her?" Reno sounded as if he were mocking every person who had ever been in love, but as he continued to speak, his demeanor changed.

"You want me to say that whenever she's away I can't stop thinking about her?" he continued, his voice already softening.

"That I just want to be near her and hold her…" he started to sound almost nostalgic, like he was recalling the last time he was with her intimately.

"…and help her achieve her hopes and dreams…" a smile began to form at the corners of his lips.

"…and protect her from all that sucks about the world for the rest of our lives?"

He snapped out of his memories. As he spoke, he imagined her smiling at him or giving him one of her "looks" to let him know she wasn't buying his bullshit. He realized by now was grinning like an idiot and shook his head to return to his defensive gaze.

"Well, I'm not doing this for love so I wouldn't be saying any of that shit," he insisted.

"You just did," Rude smirked.

"What? No! I wasn't being serious! I was making fun of every lame lovey-dovey sap out there!" Reno insisted.

One corner of Rude's lips twitched upward. "And now you're one of them," he said.

"Believe what you want," Reno huffed. "So, what are we cookin'?"

Rude sighed. Reno's fake mockery might be as close to an admission as he would get.

"Something surprisingly simple that even you'll be able to make: Rosemary-garlic steak, roasted red potatoes, and baked asparagus," Rude said.

"Oh yeah, that sounds super simple," Reno responded sarcastically.

Rude ignored him and began opening Reno's cupboards and cabinets, looking for cooking supplies. He left the doors open in his wake, leaving Reno to just stare at him, expectantly.

"Uh, what are ya lookin' for?" he asked his partner as Rude was leaning over to inspect the last cabinet.

"Where is your cookware?" the bald man asked.

"I have a frying pan."

"And?"

"A microwave."

Rude shook his head and closed his eyes. It was amazing Reno was still alive and as agile as he was with all his vices and lack of nutrition.

"Let's get going," Rude said after a groan.

"I have to do the shopping, too?"

Rude shot him a glare.

"You need to know how to pick out your own food for when you actually cook this for Tifa," he said, bringing his thumb and index finger back to the bridge of his nose and gently rubbing his skin in frustration. "You might try impressing her by looking like you know what you're doing and talking about."

"Ok, let's get going," Reno said with a sigh as he hopped off the counter and trudged toward the door with Rude in tow.

They returned a while later with all the ingredients and necessary cookware. Reno, despite his earlier objections, actually paid attention at the store, realizing that if he didn't he might disappoint Tifa or worse – make her sick.

"You are now the proud owner of a basic cooking set," Rude said as they returned to Reno's apartment – each with arms overloaded with bags – and heaved their groceries up on the counter.

"Well, great, now I'm _starving_," Reno complained. "Can't wait to watch you cook and then eat!"

"You're not going to watch me cook," Rude responded. Reno looked at him in disbelief. "_You're_ going to cook at my direction."

"Um, what now?"

"Wash your hands."

Reno let his lower lip hang slightly in confusion. He didn't know the first thing about cooking anything other than what he could make in a frying pan or microwave. And he was especially not keen to have someone standing over his shoulders giving him directions.

Rude, as one might expect, gave simple, basic directions.

"Generously season with salt and pepper."

"Toss potatoes with oil and rosemary."

"Trim asparagus."

"Bake for 30 minutes."

"Sear on high heat."

"Flip."

"Add butter and garlic."

"Now add two sprigs of rosemary."

Rude stood just off to Reno's side in the kitchen with his arms crossed as Reno dashed around at his orders. In the end, if you ignored the small fire in the skillet, Reno cooked a decent, edible meal. The redhead had worked up a sweat and plopped onto his chair as his plate rattled on the table. He had been starving, but all that work took his appetite away for some reason; he now only wanted to eat because he worked so hard at it and felt like he would pass out if he didn't.

Rude sat with his elbows resting on the table and his fingers intertwined in front of his chin, waiting for Reno to eat first. "After you," he said when Reno made it clear _he_ was waiting for Rude to eat.

"Fine, but if I die – it was your instructions," Reno relented.

"No one would ever suspect me."

Reno narrowed his eyes at his partner and picked up his knife and fork to begin cutting into his ribeye. It was a nice reddish pink color in the middle, which he studied as he brought a bit of meat up toward his mouth. He twisted his fork with his fingers for a moment before indulging.

He ended up being surprised at himself.

"Holy shit, this is really good!" he exclaimed.

Rude waited a few more moments to make sure Reno didn't keel over from the food. Satisfied that the meal was safe, he cut off a chunk of steak and tasted it.

"Damn, I'm good," he said.

"Hey! I cooked this!"

"If you did this on your own I would be pulling you out of a burning building right now."

"Yeah, well, thanks anyway."

Rude nodded.

The cleanup process – which Rude helped with, at least – made Reno want to never cook again, but figured all this effort would go a long way toward showing Tifa there could be more to him than booze and murder.

The two men drank a few during and after dinner before Rude decided he had enough and needed to head home. He stopped at Reno's front door and paused before exiting, turning back to his partner to look him square in the eyes.

"You'll never win her over if you don't admit to yourself why you're really doing this," he said.

Reno blinked a few times and stared at Rude for a moment like he had just spoken another language. He didn't understand why Rude and Elena were so desperate for there to be more to his conquest with Tifa. He grunted in annoyance at Rude and clenched his jaw.

"See ya around, partner," was all Reno could think to say before closing the door behind Rude.

"Admit to myself why I'm really doing this?" Reno asked out loud to himself as he turned from the door to walk toward the couch. He sat down and then laid back, placing his hands under his head on the armrest for support.

"Why _am_ I really doing this?" he asked himself, more than a little buzzed from alcohol. "Because I want her. Because she's fuckin' hot," he grinned at the thought of having her again, but it quickly dissipated.

"Because she's not like any woman I've ever met. Because she makes me believe that I can be a better man. Because I _want_ to be a better man – for her."

He sat up quickly as if awaking from an intense dream, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched. He brought one foot onto the couch and bent his knee, lazily resting his elbow on it and letting his arm dangle off, running his other hand through his hair.

"Oh shit."

_Meanwhile…_

Cloud sat across from Tifa in the conference room of the Highwind, enjoying himself as he watched her trying to act like she wasn't wearing a blindfold. She would look toward the window as if she could see anything more than light filtering in through the fabric, then turn toward the door. Sometimes she would look in Cloud's general direction, but when he would smile or make a face at her she wouldn't respond in kind. It amused him, so he would keep testing the boundaries by making more elaborate faces at her. She always just stared blankly in return.

Once they were in the air for a while – and she had stopped asking where they were going – Cloud turned serious.

"I can't believe that just a few days ago I thought I was going to die," he said.

He wanted this trip to be fun and light, but it had been nagging at him and the only person he wanted to talk to about it was Tifa. She was the only one who truly knew him and the only one who had the ability to get his mind on the right track – usually.

"I know," she said. "I can't believe it either. I thought I was watching you die."

"Well," Cloud said, a weak smile crossing his lips, "at least that wasn't the case."

"I'm glad," Tifa responded, a sad smile appearing on her face.

Before Cloud could say anything else he heard the faint sound of music outside the Highwind – a telltale sign of where they were going. He forgot about that.

"Shit," he quickly launched himself out of his seat and slid across the table to land beside Tifa and cover her ears, as if the damage hadn't already been done.

Tifa quickly perked up and smiled brightly.

"The Gold Saucer!?" she exclaimed even though Cloud's hands were on her ears.

"Well, so much for the surprise," Cloud said, taking his hands off her head and standing up behind her.

"Oh no, I'm still surprised!" Tifa insisted, lifting up her blindfold and running to the window to watch as the Highwind lapped around the top of the magnificent structure.

"I should have brought earplugs," Cloud said.

Tifa turned toward him and gave him a reassuring smile.

"This is perfect!" she said before clasping her hands behind her back, causing her chest to push forward.

"I'm glad," Cloud blushed.

Tifa took a step forward, but stopped when she heard the static of the Highwind's PA system overhead.

"_Alright lovebirds, here's your stop,_" they heard Cid say from the bridge. "_Have fun and I'll pick you up tomorrow. Don't be late!_"

"Tomorrow?" Tifa asked. Cloud rubbed the back of his head.

"I wanted to recreate our first date, and figured it would be late so I got us each a hotel room – just like back then," he said sheepishly.

"Oh," Tifa said before smiling again. "That's great! Let's go!"

She ran toward Cloud and grabbed him by the arm as she headed for the deck, dragging the blond behind her with little resistance. From outside, they could see the gleaming gold buildings that made up The Gold Saucer, with all the dancing lights that could be seen even though it was still daytime. Tifa looked down to watch a group of chocobo racers run along the track below, the flickering sign of the Ghost Hotel, and the twists and loops of the roller coaster.

It felt like the first time she came here, traveling by the rail car up from North Corel. They didn't even know Cid or Vincent or Cait Sith at that time. She remembered standing at the window next to Aeris, who was just as enthralled as she was with the amusement park. Tifa remembered how excited they both were to explore The Gold Saucer, even though Barret's distress at the time soured the group's mood.

It really had always been her dream to visit The Gold Saucer. She'd heard all about it growing up in Nibelheim. When she was little, her father promised her they would go someday, but then her mom got sick and Tifa forgot all about her dad's promise. For a while after her mom died, she would have dreams about her whole family going to The Gold Saucer, riding on the rides, petting the chocobos, and enjoying all kinds of treats.

Once her father died and she ended up in the slums of Midgar, however, she figured she would never get to visit the amusement park. At that time, she didn't think she'd ever even make it out of the slums.

When she found Cloud at that train station and convinced him to stay with AVALANCHE she thought that maybe the slums wouldn't be so bad after all. And then she left Midgar to chase Sephiroth…

A woman stood at the entrance asking for admission while a man in a fat chocobo suit hopped around near the cables for the tram from North Corel – same as always. Cloud showed her their lifetime pass as Tifa clutched his arm excitedly. They entered the park and stopped in the main room, surrounded by chutes to all the attractions.

"Where do you want to go first?" Cloud asked. Tifa thought for a moment before smiling.

"Well, the show at Event Square isn't until later, so wanna go play some games? Bet I can beat you at snowboarding," she said, grinning.

"You're on," Cloud responded.

Tifa gave Cloud a challenging grin before turning around to rush to the chute that lead to Wonder Square. She gripped the metal bar above the opening and launched herself feet-first down the tube. Cloud stammered a second but quickly jumped down the chute as well. He could hear Tifa's laughter echoing throughout the metal tunnel as he slid along its twists and turns.

Unfortunately, it had been a few years since he had been here, and without the weight of his sword on his back, he misjudged his landing once he exited the tube, losing his footing and falling backwards onto his butt. Tifa giggled and offered him her hand, pulling him up before they walked into the arcade together.

Tifa beat Cloud at snowboarding, even on Crazy mode, but Cloud didn't mind as it meant he got to watch Tifa wiggle her hips to stay balanced. He got her back on G-Bike though, which she maintained wasn't fair because he had real-life practice at it.

"You wanna learn how to ride my bike?" Cloud asked after she pretended to pout at her loss.

Her face immediately changed to a beaming smile and her eyes widened with wonder.

"Do you mean it?" she asked, excitedly. Cloud never let anyone drive Fenrir, and Tifa was the only person that had ever ridden on it with him.

"Well, I'll have to get a new one first, since Fenrir was destroyed."

"Oh, right," Tifa looked down, remembering what Cloud told her had happened to his precious motorbike.

"I'll find a new one soon," he informed her. "Can't help with the bar without wheels."

Tifa's smile returned once more.

"Okay, tie breaker time," she said. "3D Battler?"

"Sure, you can go first."

They tied their scores.

"Super Dunk?" Cloud asked. Tifa agreed with a nod of her head.

Again, they tied, and on Torpedo Attack, too.

"There's nothing else worth playing," Tifa said, her voice light but showing some exhaustion after all the games. "Want to go bet on chocobo races?"

"After you," Cloud said, placing a hand on her back and motioning out of the arcade.

Ester recognized them immediately once they entered the lobby and called out to the couple.

"Are you two here to race? People have been wondering whatever happened to the gold chocobo that used to race here," she said to them.

"Oh, not today, we're just here to watch," Cloud said, wrapping an arm around Tifa's waist and pulling her to him. She responded by resting her hands on his shoulder and smiling.

"That's too bad, I do hope we'll get to see that wonderful chocobo of yours again someday," Ester said. "But in that case, let me show you to our VIP viewing section."

Tifa noticed immediately how open and light the area was, with just a few other couples and groups watching from a more comfortable place than general seating. They were higher in the air and could see much more of the track, while TV screens hanging on the walls showed close-up angles. The other people were dressed in colorful, fancy attire, which instantly made Tifa feel underdressed. She tugged at the hem of her skirt and wrapped her arms around her stomach, embarrassed.

"I don't think anyone would question your style," Cloud reassured her.

It was true. They may not be dressed like the wealthy people around them, but they were still two of the biggest celebrities on the planet. Frankly, it would be odd for them to dress like the usual upper-class citizen.

Tifa smiled at Cloud's comment and stepped up to the guard rail at the front of their viewing box. Teioh wasn't racing today, so she had placed a bet on the red chocobo to win.

Cloud stepped up beside her and watched as the gates were pulled open and the chocobos were released, dashing off along the lengthy course as fast as their two legs would carry them. At the top of the spiral ramp, a purple chocobo led with the red and white ones close behind. These same three kept the lead through the area with giant clams and the rainbow cave, but once they all reached the final stretch made to look like outer space, the red chocobo took the lead and the purple chocobo fell to last place.

"Looks like you picked a winner," Cloud said as Tifa jumped up and down cheering.

"I did!" she had never bet on the races before and decided not to push her luck. "It's about time for the show at Event Square, wanna go?"

Cloud nodded and bent his elbow for Tifa to take, which she did enthusiastically. This somehow felt as magical as that night several years ago, yet even better. Back then, Cloud hadn't been that into anything, but she had been excited just to be alone with him. Now they were actually having fun together, which made it a completely different experience. Cloud seemed back to his old self, before the headaches, when he seemed to have finally found his place in the world – with Tifa.

She smiled as they walked arm-in-arm without a word into the Event Square auditorium. There was a young man checking tickets and pointing people to their seats. When Cloud and Tifa approached him he smiled and spoke up.

"Congratulations!" he said. "You're our 100th' couple today!"

Tifa grinned, hoping to get another chance to act in the play, while Cloud huffed.

"Do we have to be in the show this time?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking annoyed. He had enjoyed his date with Tifa here years ago – except that part. Having to try and memorize lines and perform in front of so many people was not an experience he wanted to relive.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," the young man insisted, waving his palms in front of the couple and shaking his head furiously. "We tried that a couple years ago and it was a disaster. Your prize tonight is two tickets to the gondola after the show."

Cloud took the tickets and thanked the man, feeling a lot more relaxed knowing he would only have to watch the play, not participate. He wasn't that into theater, but he knew Tifa had always loved it, so he humored her and tried to pay attention.

Tifa found herself paying extra attention to the stagehands that moved set pieces between scenes. Once upon a time, Jessie had been one of them after getting dropped from the lead role. Tifa shook her head to dismiss the thoughts when the lights came back up and leaned her head on Cloud's shoulder. She was just happy to be here with him and didn't want to let any negative thoughts cloud her mind right now.

They cheered when the show ended and headed to Round Square to ride the gondola. Tifa sat on the seat opposite Cloud, worried that the fireworks and memories would lead her right back into his arms when she was still terrified he would leave again. Even though everything today had been so wonderful, she couldn't help that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that it could all be over soon – and she didn't know how to get past that.

Cloud watched her take her seat and tried to hide the disappointed look on his face. Everything so far had gone better than it had years ago, yet now she was sitting away from him like they had back then. When the gondola started to move, Cloud began having flash memories of Tifa the last time they were on the ride, floating through the night as fireworks erupted outside the window, interrupting whatever they might say to each other.

"It's just as pretty as back then," Tifa said, looking out the window and smiling. "Look, Cloud."

"_Oh, Cloud… it's really pretty, isn't it?_"

"Yeah, it is," he responded, though he was looking at Tifa with sadness in his eyes that she didn't notice.

"_Ok, I'm going to just go ahead and say it…_"

He was too focused on finding Sephiroth back then to register how Tifa might have finished that sentence. Now, he wished she would say it again and finish what she started. This whole day had felt like a dream and he didn't want it to end. He felt like he was truly able to be himself now and wanted her to see that. But here she was, looking out the window and lost in thought.

"Tifa…" he didn't have an end to that sentence; he found himself soothed just by saying her name.

"Mmm?" she turned her head from the window to look at him with questioning eyes. In them, Cloud could see tiny sparks of lights reflecting the fireworks outside. He tried to quell the butterflies in his stomach to tell her everything he wanted to say right now. With his heart racing, he crossed over to sit next to her and stare into her eyes. Fireworks wouldn't interrupt them this time.

"I can't believe this is so difficult to say," he began, scratching the back of his head.

"_Aeris would be able to just come out and say it, probably._"

"I don't know why I'm so nervous, I've known you my whole life."

"_Sometimes being old friends is hard._"

"Even though we're taking things slow… I want you to know…"

"_I mean, timing is everything._"

He just stared at her, getting lost in her beauty and losing his nerve. If he said it too soon it might look like he was already expecting her to come back to him after just this date. He knew that even if she did come back now she wouldn't be fully in the relationship until she was sure he was staying, but she wasn't sure now.

"Cloud?" she asked, tilting her head a little.

He opened his mouth again, feeling like he did all those years ago when he was too afraid to talk to her. Not just when they were children and he secretly had a crush on her, but even after they reunited and he wanted to maintain his "cool" façade, mainly to mask the fact that he was still scared to embarrass himself in front of her.

He saw her head bob unnaturally and knew the gondola had stopped back at the station. He had wanted to tell her so many things and yet he chickened out like he did when they were kids. He had even hoped that he might be able to hold her underneath the fireworks. They couldn't have stepped _that_ far back, right?

The door opened and they were forced to exit, though their eyes lingered for a moment first.

"Cloud, today was…" Tifa began, looking up at him and smiling, "… amazing."

"I'm glad," he replied, though he was sure she could sense he wasn't feeling the same way.

"It's pretty late though, we should head back," Tifa said.

Cloud nodded and followed her out of Round Square. They walked in silence into the Ghost Hotel. It had been such a run and romantic day, but this hotel would surely kill the mood, leaving Cloud feeling even more dejected.

They each paused outside the doors to their rooms – which were across the hall – and turned back toward the other.

"Tifa…"

"Cloud…"

They both spoke at the same time.

"You go first," he said, motioning to her with his hand. Tifa chuckled.

"It's just… you wanted to say something back there," she said.

Cloud looked away from her for a moment. Why was this so difficult all of a sudden? God, he was overthinking too much.

He took a step toward her but said nothing. Mentally, he was kicking himself for being such a pansy. This was Tifa. Things may have changed since he left, but she was still his best friend and the last person on Gaia he should be nervous around. He lifted his head, looking like his old confidant self, and took the last few steps toward her, reaching out and wrapping his arms around her tightly.

Tifa was surprised by his actions at first, since he had seemed so timid on the gondola. At first she didn't respond, but soon she placed her hands on his chest and let him hold her like he had the first time they ever embraced – back in the flower garden of Aeris' old house in the Sector 5 slums. That night, she could tell Cloud had never hugged a woman before because he held her so tight she couldn't breathe and his armor dug into her skin.

By now he knew not to squeeze the life out of her, but her heart still felt like it did that night back in Midgar. She eased into his arms and looked up at him. He smiled and lowered his lips to hers. He didn't want to go as far as his hormones wanted, still determined to stick to a slow reunion timeline, but he did find himself pressing her against the wall outside her hotel room. She kissed him back for a few moments before pulling away for the same reason he wasn't pushing her further. It would be too easy to fall back into a relationship and ignore their issues.

She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled at him, a sheen on her lips from their kiss. He took a step back and gave her a quick nod of his head.

"I should get some sleep," she said, not moving. "I'm so glad you thought of this."

"It's good to know that after all these years I can still surprise you," he replied.

"Mmhmm. Goodnight, Cloud," she said before turning to open her door and go inside.

Cloud stood in the hallway a moment to watch her leave before saying, "goodnight, Tifa" so only he could hear it. He turned around to enter his own hotel room and flopped down on his bed, unable to sleep as he replayed the day's events in his head. It couldn't have gone better for him, he thought. Sure, some might think if the date were successful they would have ended up in the same bed, but neither of them were prepared for that right now. Cloud didn't want to push Tifa and Tifa was too afraid to jump back into bed with Cloud so soon after Reno.

As Cloud struggled to sleep, he found himself wishing Tifa would knock on his door to join him, even though it went against the plan. He thought about when he moved out of their room before he left, when the headaches were getting worse. _Did she also lie awake at night hoping he would join her?_

Tifa closed her hotel room door behind her and leaned against it. It took every fiber of her being to pull away from Cloud and not fall into the familiar like nothing had happened. As happy as she was all day, she now felt like crying from loneliness. She could so easily be back with him but it wouldn't be right – for either of them – right now.

She showered and changed for bed, hoping sleep would come quickly so she could see him again in the morning. Yet she knew that now she would be nervous around him again, just as she had been years ago when Aeris was in the picture. She didn't know where he was psychologically as far as their relationship stood, and she didn't want to cross a line. She also knew she needed to end things with Reno before she started over with Cloud, properly – and she couldn't just ignore the redhead or text him. He deserved better than that.

As she got under the covers she noticed an alert on her phone. She flipped it open to read:

"1 text message from Reno."

"_Oh no,_" she thought. She opened the message and sighed.

"Have dinner with me tomorrow night?" it read.

Her heart sank. She just had an amazing date with Cloud, leading her to believe she made her decision, but a text from Reno complicated things. Agreeing to dinner would give her a chance to tell him goodbye, but it would also mean a date with him after what she just had with Cloud.

She wanted to scream. Was it possible to love two people at once? Her mind was filled with so many emotions and feelings toward these two men. It wasn't like she was getting a kick out of them fighting over her. She wanted to make a decision but they both had their strengths and issues, and even though she felt close to Cloud at this moment, those issues didn't magically disappear in one day.

She didn't want to date two men at once, but at this moment she didn't know what else to do. Every thought contradicted another. She was confused and annoyed and found herself thinking how she had the other day when she was crying in the alley: She wished everything was different.

Sleep. She needed sleep to clear her head. Maybe things would look different in the morning.

**A/N: I know the end of this chapter might cause issues in the comments. I tried to show how… jagged… and confusing Tifa's thoughts were at the end of this chapter, because that's what it's like in these situations. Your mind is a mess. Hopefully it came across that way and not in some negative way like some reviewers may see it.**


	41. For Whom The Bartender Mixes

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Contains some brief, graphic sexual description, so if you don't want to read them you can skip the last section of the chapter.**

Chapter 41:

Tifa was sitting in her kitchen, sipping her coffee, and _trying_ to plan Seventh Heaven's grand reopening when the knock came. She wanted to open the bar back up soon now that the monster problem was solved and people were again able to walk the streets, but she hadn't been able to concentrate on her list of things that needed to be done to make sure that could happen. Something was taking up her thoughts.

_Flashback…_

"Oh!" Tifa awoke from a rather pleasant dream at the sound of her phone's ringtone.

She quickly sat up and reached for the PHS lying next to her hotel bed.

Cid.

"Hello?" she asked, still sounding sleepy. It had to have been too early to wake up.

"Where you two at, huh? It's time to go and that spikey-headed jackass ain't answerin' his damn phone!" Cid said in his usual overly excited tone.

Tifa looked at the digital clock next to her bed.

10:48 a.m.

She had overslept.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, already jumping out of bed and trying to gather her things. "I didn't realize it was so late! I'll get Cloud and we'll be right out!"

She hadn't brought much with her since it was a short trip, but she dressed and picked up what she had before dashing out of her room and across the hall to Cloud's door. She stopped just outside and knocked gently.

No answer.

She placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, figuring the door would be locked but that she should check anyway. To her surprise the warrior had left it unlocked. She pushed open the door as quietly as she could and entered his room, which was still dark. She found her way to his bed and reached out to shake his shoulder, knowing his reflexes might get her into trouble.

Instead of an attack, however, Cloud moaned softly and reached out to gently grab her arm.

"Cloud, Cid is waiting," she whispered.

"He can wait," Cloud said, still half asleep.

He tugged her arm and she sat on the bed next to him. With another moan, he reached his arm behind her back to place his hand on her waist, and pulled her down onto the bed beside him, keeping his arm wrapped around her so that her back was pressed up against him. Tifa melted into his embrace even though she knew they needed to get back to the Highwind. It felt so good to lie next to him like this again.

"Cloud, we need to go," she said softly, though she didn't try to get up.

"Just a little longer," Cloud replied, squeezing her closer.

"Mmm," Tifa moaned, not wanting to argue with him even if it meant getting an expletive-laden response from Cid.

She had just closed her eyes to relax when her phone started ringing again. This time she slipped off the bed and out of Cloud's reach.

"That would be Cid again," she said, answering her PHS.

Cloud sat up and rubbed his head after she pulled away from him.

"Mmhmm. I know. We're on our way," Tifa said into her phone before hanging up. "He's waiting."

"Wait, did we? Did you?" Cloud asked, looking confused and still half asleep.

Tifa smiled and bent at the waist to look at him.

"No, silly! I just tried to wake you up and you pulled me onto the bed," she said.

Cloud turned away, looking disappointed.

"Oh," he said. "Sorry." Tifa giggled.

"Must have been some dream," she teased. Cloud blushed.

"At least they're getting better," he responded with a light chuckle.

"Well, that's good to hear. C'mon, we've gotta go."

She and Cloud didn't say much on the trip back to Edge; just kept looking at each other and smiling or blushing. It was like they were nervous teenagers again. Cid had noticed the obvious tension between them, as the bridge was unusually quiet. While he wanted to tease them about it and ask what had happened, he figured he should let them be for now. Let them get back together and then he can tease them.

_Present moment…_

It was now the afternoon and Tifa was alone in Seventh Heaven. She heard the knock again and put down her coffee mug to head for the door. With her luck, it could be literally anyone from a friend to the next person wanting to destroy the planet.

So, she was pleasantly surprised to find Elena on the other side of the door, dressed in her typical Turk uniform and looking as chipper as always.

"Elena?"

"Hi, Tifa," the shorter blonde said. "I'm here to… remove the recording devices from your home and the bar…"

She stopped smiling as she spoke and looked at her feet sheepishly. Tifa opened the door and stepped back to allow Elena to enter. Elena walked in and stopped in the middle of the bar to look around for where Rude and Reno might have hidden the bugs.

"Did you install them?" Tifa asked, a little surprised for some reason that Elena might have helped, though she didn't know why it would surprise her. Elena was every bit as much a Turk as Reno and Rude, yet somehow Tifa never pictured her being involved in this particular mission.

"Um, me? N… no, but I know where they would be hidden," Elena replied.

"Why didn't the actual culprits come to undo their deed?"

"Reno sent me, thinking you'd be more comfortable if I were the one to remove them."

"Oh, how nice of him," Tifa said with a roll of her eyes.

"Um, do you mind if I look behind the bar and in the storage room?"

"Have at it," Tifa said, waving her hand as if disinterested.

She took a seat on one of the bar stools while Elena searched for the devices. She had nothing to do – her coffee and notebook were upstairs – but she didn't want to leave Elena alone down here.

"Found one!" Elena said, a little too excited. She was crouching down behind the bar, shining a flashlight into the back corner of a shelf. She stood up and dropped the tiny piece of equipment on the top of the bar in front of Tifa. "That's one."

Tifa looked dismayed. "One? How many are there?"

Elena looked at her nervously before appearing to count in her head.

"Let's see… Rude planted four and Reno installed…" she stopped counting and looked at Tifa, who did _not_ look happy. "Uh, I'll just remove them and be quiet."

Elena found the other bugs in the bar within a few minutes and placed them with the one in front of Tifa. She remained on the opposite side of the bar from the brunette and leaned over on her elbows.

"You know, Reno really did fight Rufus on this mission all the way," she said in a hushed tone.

"Is this why he really sent you?" Tifa asked.

Elena put her hands up defensively, shaking her palms and stepping back from the bar.

"No, no. His only instructions were to remove the bugs and not say anything to make you mad at him."

_Flashback…_

"What should I tell her?" Elena asked.

"Just that you're there to remove them. And Elena, for the love of _God_ don't say anything more than you have to," Reno said, almost menacingly. "Or so help me…"

"I get it," Elena responded quickly.

_Present moment…_

"He's really softened these past couple months…" Elena offered, approaching the bar again. "You've had an effect on him, for sure."

"He has?"

Elena's face lit up and she leaned over the bar counter again.

"Oh yeah! He tries to hide it, but we can all tell…"

"Tell what?" Tifa asked.

Elena quickly turned serious. "Uh, nothing. We should head upstairs so I can get the ones up there."

"…Okay…" Tifa said, suspicious.

She led the blonde upstairs into her living quarters and returned to her coffee and notebook. Elena scoped the room for where the bugs might have been hidden and began to search.

"I've never seen him like this, really," she said while looking through Tifa's kitchen cabinets.

"Like what?"

"Well, since your fight he's been really down. Rude says he hasn't seen him like this since after he dropped the plate…"

Tifa's eyebrow twitched.

"He's been really quiet."

"Really? Reno, quiet?"

"Right! Can you imagine?"

Both women giggled.

"We keep trying to get him to talk about it, but he refuses," Elena continued. "Typical guy, won't admit what everyone else knows."

Tifa looked at her questioningly, but Elena just ignored her.

"Do you mind if I look in the bedroom and bathroom?" she asked.

"Go ahead, just make sure you get them all."

"Will do," Elena said before heading down the hall.

She stopped when she noticed a vase of fresh white flowers on Tifa's bedside table. They were the same kind that Reno had gotten her awhile back. Since Tifa was still in her kitchen, Elena approached the flowers and noticed a small card attached to them. She looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being watched, and quickly read the card.

_Here's to new beginnings_

_-Cloud_

Elena crossed her arms and smirked. So _that's_ why Reno had called her so desperate the other day asking her to remove the recording devices. Okay, so he didn't _sound_ desperate, but Elena could read between the lines.

She knew Reno had enlisted Rude for something yesterday, but she didn't know what. She assumed it had something to do with Tifa, as Reno had been unwilling to talk about anything personal and Rude wasn't exactly up for guy talk.

Elena found a device behind Tifa's headboard. She hated this one the most, since it caught most of the sound that Elena had to spend her days listening to, and even though it hadn't been touched, she still felt like she wanted to disinfect it. She continued to look around the room, more for curiosity than actually thinking there would be another device. She stopped at the dresser to inspect the photos, looking over each one out of a habit she had picked up to get a read on people she investigated. She couldn't help but let that carry over to friends and acquaintances. Tifa was no longer under surveillance, but Elena couldn't stop herself.

She turned to enter the bathroom and realized something. Something about the way the bed was made yet other things were out of order made her suspicious. Tifa was a tidy person, so it would make sense that she would make her bed after getting up, but the bathroom had items out of place. Elena looked around to figure out what she was sensing.

_Tifa didn't sleep here_.

"Oh, Reno…" Elena said quietly enough so only she could hear. Reno may have already lost.

Elena found and removed the device in the bathroom and found another in the hallway, but none in the spare bedroom. She found all the ones Reno told her about, so just shrugged and brought them back to Tifa, dropping them on the kitchen island next to her.

"That's all of 'em," she said proudly.

"Thanks," Tifa said, again sounding disinterested.

Elena knew she should leave but hesitated. Tifa had busied herself writing notes, yet the blonde woman suddenly found herself wishing for a friend.

"Can I ask you something?" Elena said after a long pause.

"Hmm?" Tifa said, looking up from her notebook as if she were a little surprised Elena was still there.

"How'd ya do it?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" Tifa asked with knitted eyebrows.

Elena's face turned white as she realized how her question must have sounded. She took a step back toward Tifa and folded her arms across her chest, placing her weight on one leg and sticking her hip out.

"How did you get Reno… I mean, he's the last guy _on Gaia_ I ever thought would want to…" she trailed off before quickly walking to the kitchen island and sitting on the stool next to Tifa, who looked confused. "Look, I've known Reno for years – and I knew _of_ him long before that. About 10 years total."

"Really?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, and in all that time I've seen him… oh, I promised I wouldn't say anything to make you mad at him…"

"What?"

Elena fidgeted with her hands a moment without looking at Tifa. She knew what Reno meant when he told her not to say anything more than she had to. He knew she might say something that would make Tifa even madder at him, but did this really count?"

"I guess it's no surprise that Reno's slept with a lot of women," Elena continued, her voice low as if Reno were nearby. "Half of them have worked for Shinra."

Tifa's left lower eyelid puffed a little as a thought crossed her mind. Elena seemed to catch on and put her hands up defensively.

"Oh, no, not me!" she insisted, shaking her head furiously. "But my sister, when she was a new recruit, along with some other girls in her Turk class…"

Tifa scoffed. It's not like she didn't know this about Reno, but it still disgusted her to hear. Even worse, it embarrassed her that she had become just another notch in his bedpost.

"…Anyway, I've watched so many girls try to get him to settle down, and no one has even come close," Elena continued, looking toward the kitchen cabinets instead of making eye contact with Tifa. "And every time we went out as a group – it was the same thing. Until he met you."

"Met me? You mean two years ago?" Tifa asked. Elena grunted in the affirmative.

"Yeah. Something was different about him ever since he fought you in Gongaga."

"What do you mean, different?"

"Well, it's not like it happened overnight," Elena said. "He was just different after he had been around you. Subtle. I don't think Rude or Tseng noticed. I'm pretty sure he did what he could to hide it until Cloud left."

Tifa looked forward and took a sip of her coffee. _When Cloud left…_

"So, Reno has feelings…" Tifa said, almost to herself.

"Who knew, right?" Elena joked. "By the way, _please_ don't tell him I told you any of this. He'll _kill_ me."

"Secret's safe with me, but it'll be hard not to tease him about some of this," Tifa said, turning to look at Elena with a devious grin.

"I would actually enjoy watching his reaction, damn," the blonde responded and both women laughed.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed between them. Tifa couldn't bring herself to kick Elena out or work on her notes, but she did finish her coffee. Elena just fidgeted in her chair before tapping her fingers lightly on the counter.

"So… AVALANCHE and the Turks, huh?" Tifa said after her second pretend sip of coffee.

"Who would have thought? It wasn't too long ago that I hated you," Elena responded.

"Well, that makes two of us," Tifa replied with a laugh.

"I'd cheers to that if we were downstairs," Elena offered.

"I like the way you think," Tifa said, getting up from her kitchen stool.

Elena took a few steps to follow her but stopped suddenly.

"Wait, don't you have a date with Reno tonight?" she asked.

Tifa spun around and covered her mouth with her hands, gasping and looking horrified.

"Oh my God!" she said, a little too shocked to have just forgotten about dinner.

"What?"

Tifa's eyes shifted from side to side while her hands remained over her mouth.

"I never responded to his text," she said.

"You didn't?" Elena asked, stifling a laugh. The thought of Reno spending the day twisting in the wind was delightful, even though she knew it wasn't fair.

"I don't usually respond and never really had to…" Tifa said, lowering her hands.

Elena folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, you could respond _now_, but might I make a suggestion?" she asked.

"What?"

Elena took a few steps closer and brought her fingers together, keeping her palms apart. She then pointed her fingers toward Tifa.

"It's a little late to agree to dinner, and from what I gather… you didn't sleep here last night."

Tifa looked at the blonde skeptically – how did she know all this?

"How did you…?"

"Tifa, I'm a Turk. I know how to read my surroundings."

"Right, of course."

"Hear me out," Elena continued. "Why don't you tell Reno to hold off until tomorrow. You need a night off, and might I suggest drinking with a new friend?"

Tifa gave Elena a quizzical glance. They weren't enemies anymore, but they certainly weren't that close. Was the Turk up to something? Still, Tifa knew could handle herself, and she did need a break from all the drama in her life.

"What the hell," she told the blonde, who seemed more excited than expected.

"Great! You know, I'm sure this comes as no surprise, but I don't get to hang out with a lot of women," Elena admitted as the two headed downstairs to the bar.

"Story of my life," Tifa responded. "I grew up in a village of all boys, then I had Jessie for a few years. She died in Sector 7. Then I had Aeris, and now there's just Yuffie when she decides to visit."

"Guess we're not so different. I was never close to my sister and was so focused on becoming a Turk that I didn't have time for friends," Elena said.

Tifa took out her phone after she entered the bar. She felt really bad blowing Reno off like this and worried she would hurt him after what Elena told her.

"Oh, he'll be fine," Elena said behind her, sensing her hesitation. "Reno's still Reno."

Tifa nodded and began typing.

"I'm really sorry I didn't respond earlier. Can we have dinner tomorrow instead?" the message said. Tifa stared at the screen a few moments to wait for a response but didn't receive one.

She then walked behind the bar as Elena took a seat and placed outstretched hands on the bar counter and smiled. "So, what'll you have?"

_Several drinks later…_

"Oh my God, no!" Tifa said between fits of laughing.

"He did! To this day, I refuse to staple anything."

"What a rat!" but Tifa couldn't stop laughing. She steadied herself on the bar and wiped away a tear. Working with Reno must be a nightmare, but to an outsider, his pranks sounded hilarious.

After the two stopped laughing, Elena turned serious for a moment.

"Heh, you know why I always hated you so much?" she asked the brunette who was pouring them each another round of drinks.

"Uh oh, maybe we should find another subject."

"No, you'll laugh, I promise," Elena insisted, waiting patiently for her new drink.

"Uh huh."

"It never had anything to do with being on opposite sides or anything you did," Elena said. She looked down into her freshly poured beverage a moment, feeling nostalgic. "The Turks are my family. I hate being away from them, but ever since you opened the bar, all Reno and Rude wanted to do was drink and be near you. I wanted to be around them, but they just wanted to worship you."

"I had no idea," Tifa said. "Well, I knew Rude had at one point liked me, but I didn't know it was like that for you."

"It's actually funny, when I think back. They're so pathetic. But it was nice when Tseng was around, too. It gave us a chance to get to know each other."

"Silver lining," Tifa said, holding her glass up for Elena to clink hers against.

The two sat in silence a moment before they both heard the sound of Elena's stomach growling. Elena, with pink cheeks, held her hand over her belly and cleared her throat.

"Oh, wow, didn't realize I was so hungry," she said.

"Snack run?" Tifa asked, now realizing that she hadn't eat anything all day.

"Oh yeah, I would _kill_ for some chips right now," Elena said, her eyes flickering upward as she emphasized the word "kill."

Tifa got off her stool and stumbled ever so slightly. Maybe she had drank a little more than she thought – or maybe it was just the lack of nutrition.

"There's a market just down the street," she told the blonde woman, who seemed to be struggling a bit more to get to the front door.

"Have you ever been to The Phoenix Club?" Elena asked as they made their way down the street.

The only hint that they had been drinking was their giddiness and constant chatting about nothing important.

"No, I've never really been the clubbing type," Tifa answered. "I wouldn't have pegged you as the type either."

"Oh, I only went once – on a mission," Elena confessed. "But it was so beautiful inside and they have this drink called the Phoenix Flame that was _amazing_ but I can't figure out what was in it."

"Hmm, I bet I could figure it out if I tried it," Tifa, ever the bartender, stated.

"I don't know, the bartender set it on fire and it changed color! And then he flicked something at it and made sparks. I've never seen anything like it."

Tifa smiled and thought to herself a moment. Non-bartenders really did think simple tricks were mesmerizing. Still, she wouldn't mind getting a look at and taste of this drink. Maybe she could modify it and come up with a new special. She liked to rotate her drink specials, and right now she was making the Cosmo Canyon because it was the first drink she ever made for Cloud – that he liked. She still hadn't forgot how he held the glass up to inspect the drink and said "beautiful." She was standing in his line of sight, and to this day always believed he had meant the word for her and not the drink. Maybe she should ask him about that someday – but now he'd probably say she was right even if she wasn't.

"Think we could get in tonight?" Tifa asked. Now she was curious.

"Are you serious?" Elena said as more of a statement than a question. "You just saved the planet – again – you can get in anywhere you want."

"Hmm," Tifa replied. If Elena was right, it meant the press might start hounding her again soon – she already might be getting followed. "We can try. But first: Snacks."

"Agreed," Elena said. The two women started giggling again as they reached the market.

The girls grabbed armfuls of what they were craving (who has time for baskets?) and were waiting in an unusually long line before finally reaching the conveyor belt. Tifa placed her items on it as she waited for the customers in front of her and pulled out her phone. No messages from Cloud, which wasn't surprising since even now he wasn't much of a texter. But Reno still hadn't responded, and she now worried she had hurt him.

"Reno hasn't texted me back," she told Elena, who was standing in line behind her, still holding snacks.

Tifa was really feeling bad about cancelling – or never confirming – Reno's request. He had done so much for her while Cloud was away, but as soon as her childhood friend returned she had barely spoken to the Turk outside of their fight. She suddenly felt like she did when Cloud left, constantly looking at her phone and hoping she would hear from him. Maybe Reno had given up? That would make things easier, but all at once she didn't want that. Maybe it was the alcohol and the fact that Cloud wasn't around either.

"Oh, he's a big boy," she said. "Don't worry about it."

Tifa looked at the blonde woman and nodded before something caught her attention out the corner of her eye. She had been staring at the back of the person in front of her until she placed her groceries on the conveyor belt, but now she didn't know how she could have missed this.

Among the gossip magazines and tabloids was one that had the unforgettable Shinra logo on its cover and in large letters: "Shinra Solves Monster Crisis." Tifa grabbed the tabloid and flipped it open to the page describing how _Shinra_ saved the planet. In much smaller letters under the main headline were the words: "AVALANCHE Joins Fight."

Tifa blinked a few times as she stared at the page, reading and rereading the words several times to make sure she hadn't gone crazy. She then skimmed through the main article to discover Rufus Shinra's spin on what happened at the Northern Crater.

"After weeks of research, Shinra scientists theorized that some part of Jenova must still be alive in the Northern Crater, calling its remaining cells to it," the article said. "President Rufus Shinra gathered members of his elite security force – the Turks – and sought out AVALANCHE to assist in the company's disposal of the remaining Jenova cells."

Tifa's fingers curled around the pages and gripped tightly, tearing and wrinkling the paper as she nearly tore it to shreds. So, Rufus was taking the credit for stopping Jenova? Pretending _he_ employed AVALANCHE to help? Describing the Turks as an "elite security force"? Cloud Strife was the only named member of AVALANCHE in the article, and the photo included in the body of the text was of Rufus in his office.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Tifa snarled as she continued to stare at the tabloid.

Elena, who had put her groceries down by now, placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You knew about this?" Tifa asked, shaking with rage.

"I saw the article a few days ago – we had no idea he was going to do that."

"No one even contacted me or Cloud – that I know of."

Elena sighed. "The Turks" may have been mentioned, but not by name either. They knew Shinra was going to use AVALANCHE's fame to get good publicity, and she figured Rufus would try to inflate Shinra's role in the whole mission, but she underestimated to what extent he would steal credit.

"I doubt anyone in the world truly believes Shinra organized the mission – and you know, none of us will try to steal credit from you and your friends," Elena offered. "We helped, but we were nothing compared to you and AVALANCHE."

"Elena," Tifa said, calming a little, "don't sell yourselves short. We couldn't have done it without you, Reno, Rude, and Tseng."

"Thanks," Elena said.

She hadn't realized how much she wanted to hear someone from AVALANCHE tell the Turks they mattered. It seemed silly; of course the Turks mattered, but Elena and her coworkers still had this thought that AVALANCHE looked down on them and dismissed the assistance they provided.

"I think I have to pay for this," Tifa told the cashier when it was her turn. She held up the tattered paper with a guilty look on her face and handed it to the woman behind the counter, who looked at her funny.

Tifa and Elena paid for their items and returned to Seventh Heaven to consume them.

"Oh, God, cheese-flavored processed corn meal never tasted so good!" Elena cooed as she took another bite.

Tifa just giggled and unwrapped another piece of chocolate.

"So, did you still want to try that drink?" Elena asked after she had eaten most of her snacks.

"That would mean going to a club, trying the drink, and then coming back here where I would work to recreate it and you would sit there taste testing?" Tifa replied.

"We could stay at the club if it's fun."

"Maybe, but I actually want to see this drink you think is so amazing."

After a month or so of Cloud pulling away back then, Tifa tried to get out of the house more so she wouldn't be left alone with her thoughts and feelings of loneliness. She decided to take an advanced bartending course, since she had never had formal training but had learned the basics and then some over her years of working behind a bar. She hadn't really gotten to use her new skills since her customers weren't the discerning type, so she'd use what she learned to make a weekly special and hope people would try it. Some did, but she had to stop using the most advanced techniques because the drinks would become too complicated and take too long to make for her patrons. She was actually looking forward to trying something new and seeing if she could recreate it.

"Well, let's head out then!" Elena exclaimed, already getting up from her seat and heading for the door.

"Wait!" Tifa said, reaching her hand out as if she could grab Elena, who was out of reach. "Do we need to change for the club?"

Elena laughed. "Tifa, you're wearing a leather miniskirt and a crop top, you're already dressed for the club."

They arrived at The Phoenix Club a short time later to find a line to get in that stretched out the door and around the block.

"Guess we'll be waiting awhile," Tifa said as she scanned the crowd.

Elena rolled her eyes and grabbed Tifa by the wrist, pulling her toward the bouncer at the front of the line. "We don't need to wait. We have you." She pulled Tifa a little harder to force her to step up to the bouncer, who looked the brunette up and down.

"You're in," he said, reaching for the velvet rope that blocked their path and motioning toward the door.

"Am I really that famous?" Tifa asked Elena earnestly.

"You're famous?" she heard the bouncer say behind her as Elena ushered her inside.

Inside was exactly what Tifa expected: A dimly lit, crowded, and loud upscale establishment that she could never compete with – nor did she want to. The furniture was all red and purple velvet with leather accents. The walls, too, had deep red wallpaper with dark wood wainscoting. The floor was dark marble. Tifa could just barely see part of the bar, which looked antique, with a bartender dressed in a dress shirt and a double-breasted silk vest with sleeve garters. It felt like stepping into a time machine.

"Let's go upstairs, it's usually less crowded," Elena said as she again tugged on Tifa's arm.

Upstairs was slightly lighter and less crowded, allowing the girls to find a booth in a back corner. A waiter, dressed similarly to the bartender downstairs, came by a few minutes later to take their drink orders.

"Two Phoenix Flames," Elena ordered for them with a smile.

Tifa watched the waiter disappear into the crowd and kept her gaze in that direction, trying to get a glimpse of the bartender making the drink. A few minutes later, the bartender himself approached their table with two double shot glasses filled halfway with a shimmery blue liquid and two single shot glasses with a cloudy, slightly yellow liquid. Under his arm he carried a bottle of rum 151. He set the glasses with the blue liquid at the head of the table in front of him and set the other, smaller glasses to the side. He then pulled a spoon out of his apron and layered the rum on top of each blue drink as the women watched with anticipation.

The bartender then removed a lighter from his apron and flipped it around in his hand with some flair as he brought it up and then back down to light the two blue drinks on fire. The darkness of the club allowed the women to see the dark blue flame radiating from their glittery drinks.

"That's so pretty," Tifa declared.

"Wait for it," Elena cautioned.

The bartender then poured the glasses of yellowish liquid into each of the flaming drinks, causing the blue shimmery liquid to turn purple. With some more flair, the bartender flicked his fingers at the drink, causing sparks to shoot out from the flames.

Elena smiled and cheered while Tifa just stared at the drink in amazement. She had a couple ideas on how some of the magic happened, but she was truly in awe of what she had just seen.

"How… did you do that?" she asked the bartender as he gathered the extra equipment.

"Sorry, club secret," he said with a mischievous smile. "I'll be right back with plates so you can extinguish the flames."

Tifa didn't even acknowledge him as she was still captivated by the flaming drink in front of her. She was mesmerized by the dancing flames and sparkly liquid inside. She knew she couldn't learn the ingredients without tasting it, but it was so pretty to look at she didn't want to ruin the view. The bartender returned with two small plates and taught the women how to use them to put out the flames. After he left, they each begrudgingly extinguished their drinks.

"Cheers," Elena said as she lifted her glass toward Tifa.

Tifa reciprocated the gesture but instead of downing the drink as a shot, she took a sip hoping to learn the ingredients. It was sweet, and she could definitely taste a hint of lemon, as well as gin and vodka and, oh, what was that one flavor she learned about in the bartending course? It was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't recall it as she took her time finishing the rest of the drink.

"We're going to need to order another – and preferably at the bar," she told her companion.

"Oh! I see two seats opening up, let's go," Elena said, grabbing her drink and purse and bolting for the bar.

She managed to get onto one of the plush stools just before a couple had approached, and quickly placed her hand on the other seat to claim it for Tifa, who joined her a moment later.

"Well, hello ladies, come to spy on me?" he asked in Tifa's direction with a wink.

"Maybe," Elena said, resting her elbow on the bar and leaning forward to place her chin on her fist. "We'll take two more."

The bartender nodded and turned his back to the women. Tifa shifted in her seat to try and see around the man to see what bottles he was grabbing. She finally managed to see him pull from the refrigerator a bottle with a homemade label on it. Elde…

"Hey!" another customer huffed at her. She looked at him before realizing she was leaning across the bar and into his space.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

What did that bottle say? Oh! That's right, _that's_ the flavor she was trying to remember. Elderflower. Another bottle, which the bartender took from the freezer, had a homemade label that said, "CG Gin." She could see the bartender straining freshly squeezed lemon juice into a glass along with vodka and what was in the elderflower bottle. When he poured the gin, it was already blue and sparkly.

He turned around holding four glasses again and performed the same routine as he had done previously. The women were again amazed, though Tifa continued to show a hint of disbelief as she studied the bartender's every move.

Tasting the drink now after learning some of the ingredients, she was getting a better idea of what it would take to make it – and she knew it would take time and effort.

"Figured it out yet?" Elena asked after she finished her second drink.

"I definitely have an idea," Tifa responded with a grin. "Let's order one more."

"Don't have to ask me twice," Elena said, motioning to the bartender that they wanted another round. "Hey, let's get a picture together!"

Tifa was surprised by the blonde woman's suggestion. She felt closer to Elena now that they had spent more time together, but the question still felt out of the blue. Could this be some Turk trap she was unwittingly walking into? Elena did look sincere – and drunk – so maybe not. Tifa shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" she said, figuring that a picture of her and Elena couldn't actually cause any problems.

Elena took out her phone and leaned close to Tifa, angling the phone above them for a selfie that showed just the two women's faces down to their chests but no details that would give away their location.

"This'll be a good memory, huh?" Elena asked.

Tifa nodded. Elena wasn't so bad once you got to know her, and Tifa definitely felt she had this night. She didn't quite trust her – or any Turk, for that matter – but she could see the wall between them definitely coming down now.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno sat at a crowded bar, the heels of his shoes hooked on the lower rung of his barstool. He was hunched over the counter, his elbows resting on the rosewood and one hand limply holding a glass of liquor, which he was currently studying when he felt his phone vibrate in his suit jacket pocket.

He had finally admitted to himself last night that he loved Tifa, even if he was still trying not to think about the revelation. When she texted to cancel on him, he had been surprised at how wounded he felt, his chest heating up and tightening as if he had been stabbed. He then felt the now-familiar sting of hot jealousy as his thoughts quickly settled on the assumption that Tifa must still be with Cloud after their date at The Gold Saucer.

His feelings may be changing, but muscle memory caused him to take the predictable actions he would always take whenever he was pissed off. After reading her text a few times and hating the feeling it was causing in his body, he stuffed his phone in his pocket, grabbed his keys, and headed for a bar.

He ordered his usual scotch at a bar he used to frequent and settled in for a long night. He alternated between sipping his scotch and rereading Tifa's text. The more he read it, the colder it seemed. Sure, she was asking to reschedule for the next night, but she could just cancel that as well. This could be her icing him out now that Wonder Boy was back in town.

"_And just like that, Reno is cast aside,_" he said to himself with a sigh as he put his phone away and stared into his drink as if it would give him the answer he wanted. It'd worked before.

After he put his phone away he brushed his hand up the back of his head, a new habit that had formed earlier that day when he suddenly decided to cut off his ponytail. The hair at the back of his head still felt sharp and fresh against his fingers as he stroked it. He had cut it off to change things up, given his newfound… feelings. He couldn't even remember why he had grown it out in the first place.

No, he knew, but it was another one of those things he tried to suppress. He had started growing out his hair after Veld left and Reno was promoted to second-in-command. Looking back, he wasn't sure why he chose to grow out his hair, but he had kept it going and was prepared to keep growing it until either Veld returned or Reno learned of his real death.

He put his drink down and ran his hands down his face, pulling down his eyelids and cheeks as he realized he was now no different than one of those women who got dumped and chopped their hair off or got bangs. No, he hadn't been dumped – and he cut his hair before Tifa cancelled on him – but right now he felt pretty damn low.

A shiver ran up his spine when his phone vibrated. The part of him he now hated hoped it was a text from Tifa asking to meet up, even though he knew she would never initiate such an encounter, especially not now. He retrieved his phone and flipped it open, a disappointed look quickly appearing on his face.

"One text message from Elena."

He groaned, figuring he was about to read some annoying long text telling him to keep his head up and not give up. He considered simply putting his phone back in his pocket and not even bothering, but the need to confirm his suspicions nagged at him. He opened the message to find a picture without words – a picture of Tifa and Elena looking like they were having a blast together.

Reno's left eye twitched and his nostrils flared. This was _Elena's_ doing. He tightened his grip on his phone and his hand began to shake. Just as the device started to struggle against the pressure, it vibrated again. Another message from Elena.

"Don't ever mess with my stapler again."

_Meanwhile…_

Elena sat up smugly in her seat after she sent the messages to Reno, satisfied with yet another successful scheme. You see, Elena was as cold and calculating as they came, but she was able to mask it all behind her alleged "ramblings."

"_Elena, you talk too much_," Tseng told her during her first encounter with AVALANCHE in the Mythril Mines two years ago. She smiled at the memory. That's what they all thought. But everything, _everything_ she said had a purpose, a plan.

The bartender brought her and Tifa's third Phoenix Flames and set the glasses down in front of them. Tifa had her phone out so she could film the pouring and color change. She wouldn't be able to steal the drink to compare it to the one she was about to make, but at least she could make sure it looked the same.

When they finished their drinks, the two women paid their tabs and left the club, giggling as they did so.

"I still can't believe Rufus had that article printed," Tifa said as they walked toward a liquor store that was near Seventh Heaven.

"You can't?" Elena asked. "I mean, this is Rufus Shinra we're talking about."

"I guess I'm not _surprised_, I just can't believe it actually went to print," Tifa replied wistfully.

They walked in silence for a few blocks after that.

"So, do you think you know what you need for the cocktail?" Elena finally asked.

"I've been going over a list in my head but I don't know how to make it change color like that or how to make it glittery."

"You know who's really good at tasting alcohol?" Elena asked.

"Reno?"

Elena shook her head but knew she'd be tucking away Tifa's answer for a later date.

"_And_ might know how to make it glitter and change color?"

Tifa just stared at the blonde as they walked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Rude!" Elena said with a grin.

"Really?"

"He spent months training with a master chef for an assignment way back when, he still knows how to make some really weird stuff," Elena explained. "Plus, he'd be an excellent taster."

"I guess we could try," Tifa replied just as they reached the liquor store.

Elena pulled out her PHS and dialed Rude's number, hoping he wouldn't be out drinking with Reno since Tifa cancelled.

"Hey Rude," she said when he answered. "You're not with Reno, are you?"

Tifa saw Elena smile.

"Good. Hey listen, Tifa and I are trying to figure out how to make a cocktail, and we were wondering if you know how to make drinks glittery and change color."

She didn't speak for a moment.

"Well, I guess that's what the Database is for. Okay, come meet us at the liquor store by Seventh Heaven."

Elena hung up and looked at Tifa as they walked toward the gin section.

"So, good and bad news," Elena began. "Rude knows how to add edible glitter to food but he doesn't know how to make liquor change color."

"He… knows about food glitter?" Tifa asked, blinking and shaking her head in disbelief.

"Heh, yeah. Apparently he had to help the chef make glittery cupcake frosting for a bridal party."

Tifa's confusion wasn't alleviated.

"So… Rude – _Rude_ – made cupcakes for a bridal shower?"

Both women burst out laughing and leaned against each other for support. The image of Rude making glittery, girlie frosting and decorating cupcakes was too much. Once they had composed themselves – and gotten a few strange looks from other customers – Tifa began looking over the selection of gin.

"Okay, so I know there was gin in it and vodka," Tifa said, more to herself than Elena. "I have lemons at home and rum 151, but I want to get a new bottle of gin and vodka instead of taking from the bar for this."

"Sounds like a plan."

"We'll need to go to the grocery store after this – I need the ingredients for elderflower syrup – and, oh! I'm out of cinnamon."

"Cinnamon?" Elena asked. "I love cinnamon. I did not taste any cinnamon in that drink."

Tifa grinned. "It's what made the fire crackle." That little trick she learned from the course, as well as how to make elderflower syrup. The class, frankly, was a little heavy on elderflower drinks for Tifa's taste, but at least that knowledge would be put to good use now.

After selecting a gin and vodka, the two women were waiting in line to purchase their items when Rude entered the store. Elena waved him over and he joined them in line.

"So, you'll have to tell me about these glittery cupcakes," Tifa teased.

She could see just the faintest hint of a blush on Rude's cheeks, but he just grunted in response and folded his arms across his chest.

"Oh, lighten up, Rude!" Elena said, playfully batting his chest with the back of her hand as Tifa paid for the booze.

"Ok, so how do I make shimmery liquor?" Tifa asked Rude after she paid for her items.

"Food-grade petal luster dust."

"Petal what?" Elena asked.

Tifa crossed her arms but brought one hand up to her lips in contemplation.

"Hmm, there's a craft shop nearby, would they have it?" she asked.

Rude shrugged. "Probably."

"Okay, why don't you go get what we need while Elena and I get what else we need at the grocery store and figure out how to make the gin change color. Meet back at Seventh Heaven?"

Rude nodded and headed in the direction Tifa pointed for the hobby shop. Glitter duty. What he wasn't willing to put up with to be near Tifa knowing it would get under Reno's skin. He had forgiven his partner, but he could still have a little fun, right?

Back in the grocery store, Elena took out her phone to search the Database – a vast record of information compiled by Shinra's tech team that had the answers to pretty much any question. It was originally developed for internal use, but once word of the technology leaked out, the company opened it up for the general public.

"Let's see… color changing alcohol," Elena said as she typed.

"You think Shinra would have drink recipes?"

"Oh, it has _everything_," Elena explained. A moment later, her face lit up. "Got it!"

"Really?"

"We need Butterfly Pea flowers and… huh, that's it."

"Butterfly Pea flowers?" Tifa asked, surprised it could be so simple. "I'll go get those and elderflowers from the garden shop, can you get cinnamon and sugar?"

"I'm on it," Elena said, bringing her hand up to her forehead in a salute before turning to gather the items Tifa asked for.

As expected, the small garden center at the grocery store did not have either of the flowers Tifa needed. She joined Elena in line and groaned.

"Maybe we could tell Rude to go find them?" Elena asked.

"This feels like one of the old fetch quests I used to do with AVALANCHE," Tifa said through another groan.

"Rude will find them, he can find anything," Elena replied, taking out her phone to call her colleague.

The women paid for their items and returned to Seventh Heaven to find Rude waiting on the front steps with everything they asked him to find. Tifa looked at him with a quizzical look on her face and her mouth agape.

"How did you…?" she asked.

"I have my ways," he said, pushing his sunglasses up his nose with the hand that was holding the flowers.

Tifa and Elena had pretty much sobered up at this point and led Rude into the bar. Tifa gathered all the other ingredients she knew she needed and started working on the elderflower syrup.

"You know this needs to sit for three to five days," she said after she poured the boiling hot sugar and water mixture over the flowers and lemon.

"Anyway to speed that up?" Elena asked expectantly, leaning across the bar on her elbows with her hands clasped together.

"Unfortunately, no," Tifa answered. "And according to the instructions you found in the Database, the color-changing gin has to sit overnight."

"So, we did all this for nothing?" Elena asked.

"'Fraid so," Tifa said. "I'll go ahead and make the gin though, maybe we can try this in a few days?"

"Ugh," Elena said, elongating the word. "I was hoping to figure this out tonight."

Without a word, Rude got up from his stool and pulled out his phone. He brought it to his ear and walked a few steps away from the women, who just looked at him questioningly.

"Elderflower syrup and color changing gin," they heard him say into the phone.

"Great, see you in thirty," he said after a pause.

The two women continued to stare at him.

"How did you…?" Tifa asked for the second time that night.

"I have my ways," Rude said, again.

Elena didn't seem phased at all by Rude's ability to find such obscure items, having experienced this skill many times over the past few years. It was one of the reasons she invited him tonight.

Tifa turned back to the bar and grabbed a couple glasses. She pulled a few bottles off the shelves and poured them into the glasses before turning around to provide Rude his customary scotch and Elena her vodka-soda. Tifa poured herself a glass of Corel wine but remained behind the bar.

"Something to pass the time," she said.

"Let's take a picture together!" Elena suggested after a few sips of alcohol.

Rude immediately looked at Tifa but had no expression on his face. Not too long ago, he would have killed to be in a picture with her, even if it included Elena. He still wouldn't mind a picture of her or with her, but things were different now.

Tifa looked at Rude before looking to Elena. She had never pictured the Turk as one of those people who wanted to take photos of her outings, but she didn't really know her that well before tonight. She nodded and leaned over the counter toward Elena as the blonde held her phone up to get all three of them in frame.

_Meanwhile…_

"You're that Turk, right?"

"Lady, tonight I'm just a man trying to drink alone in peace," Reno retorted without even turning to look at the woman who had just approached him.

"Bullshit," the woman said. "If you wanted to do that you could have stayed home, but you're out in a bar because you want attention."

Reno had decided to go to a bar because chopping his hair off _and_ drinking alone felt too pathetic, but if he were at a bar, at least he could say he wasn't drinking alone, even if he didn't interact with anyone.

"I like the atmosphere," he said, his left leg bouncing on the bottom rung of the barstool. He continued to look into the drink he was lazily swirling in his raised hand.

"You used to come here a lot more," the woman just wouldn't quit. "Always left with someone different, too."

"Musta been someone else," he replied. He had no desire to even see what this woman looked like, something he never would have done in the past.

"Haven't seen you 'round," she continued, seemingly unaffected by his coldness. "You had a girlfriend?"

"Nope," he said as the picture of Tifa and Elena flashed before his mind's eye.

"Good," the woman said before sitting on the stool next to Reno's.

He had no interest in conversing with anyone else tonight – especially not a strange woman – but he was starting to get the urge to be a bit judgy. No woman could possibly be more attractive than Tifa or make him want to forget about her for the evening, but he now wanted to at least know who was trying.

He slowly turned his head and shifted his eyes to the side to look at her without fully turning his body so as not to give her a signal he might be interested. She was probably around his age and may have been pretty years ago before her now obvious drug and alcohol abuse problem. At least turning her down would be super easy, since he probably wouldn't have gone for her even before he decided to put all his effort into obtaining Tifa.

By now she shifted on the stool to turn toward him and was about to say something when his phone vibrated again. He immediately reached for it in his jacket pocket to stop her from saying anything else. As he flipped it open, he silently prayed that it was from Tifa or Elena asking him to join them. He'd have to decline, of course; couldn't let them think he had nothing better to do than sit around and wait for an invite.

"One text message from Elena."

Good enough, he thought as he clicked on it. His expression immediately changed to one of anger with a hint of disappointment. He was now staring at a photo of Tifa, Elena, and _Rude_ enjoying themselves together somewhere. Well, Rude looked like he always did, but Reno knew he was having fun. Worse, Elena had angled the camera and directed Tifa and Rude to lean in such a way that obscured their surroundings so he couldn't figure out where they were – you know, in case he wanted to casually crash. It also looked like Elena had edited the photo to obscure the top corners that might have given him some indication as to their location.

"_Bitch_," he thought to himself.

He then typed a message back to her: "Where are you guys?"

It was definitely _not_ what he expected to say, but he hadn't been alone with Tifa in days and it was starting to hurt mentally and physically. He hated that.

His phone buzzed again and he saw Elena had responded.

"Classified," she wrote.

"Oh, _c'mon_!" Reno said out loud to his phone, which didn't respond.

"Something wrong?" the woman who had been trying to chat him up asked.

"No," he said, snapping his phone closed and returning it to his pocket.

"You're lying," she said with a coy smile.

"So, what if I am?"

"I could help you forget about her…"

Reno looked the woman in the eyes and almost sneered. He might be drunk and upset, but he was smart enough not to blow his chances with Tifa by sleeping with some floozy. Without saying a word he reached into his other pocket and pulled out more than enough gil to cover his bar tab and tossed it on the counter. The woman's face lit up until Reno met her gaze again and glared, shaking his head back and forth just slightly.

Reno kept his head held high as he walked out of the building and into the night, the flickering neon lights of The Phoenix Club behind him.

_Meanwhile…_

Rude's "guy" arrived within 30 minutes exactly with the items the Turk had asked for, much to Tifa's surprise. It was after midnight by now, yet Rude had managed to get some pretty obscure items within half an hour.

Tifa tasted the elderflower syrup and examined the color-changing gin. It was blue, just like at The Phoenix Club. She took out a double shot glass and filled it halfway with the Gin. She then dropped in some of the luster dust and stirred the contents.

"Ooo, pretty!" Elena said, the effects of alcohol again showing in her demeanor.

"Okay, I think that yellowish liquid he poured in it was elderflower syrup, lemon juice, and vodka, but I don't know the ratio," Tifa said, staring at the three ingredients.

She shrugged and poured a little of each into a shaker. She shook them with a bit of bartender flair out of habit, but she didn't smile and look at Elena or Rude as she did so. She would usually look at the customer she was mixing the drink for while she shook it – that usually got her a better tip.

She then poured some of mix into a single shot glass and placed it next to the blue drink. She grabbed a spoon and held it upside down over the drink to pour the rum 151 on top before reaching under the bar for a lighter and setting the drink on fire.

So far, so good, she thought. She picked up the other shot glass and carefully poured it into the flaming drink. Much to her surprise, the drink turned a purplish blue.

"Yay!" she said, hopping up and down a little.

She then pulled out the cinnamon, opened the bottle, and flicked a little at the flame, causing sparks.

"This looks almost like the one at The Phoenix Club!" Elena cheered as Rude watched, expressionless.

Tifa put the flame out with a plate and passed the drink to Elena.

"The real test is the taste," the brunette said.

Elena nodded and brought the drink up under her nose. Just from the smell she could tell something wasn't right, but she decided to taste it anyway.

"Whoa! Heavy on the vodka, yeesh," she said, pulling the unfinished drink away from her.

Tifa frowned.

"Guess I didn't get the ratio right," she said.

"I think you're close, though," Elena responded.

Tifa nodded and pulled out a couple more large shot glasses. She made two drinks the next time – one each for Elena and Rude to test – while she continued to sip her wine.

"This one was a little better, maybe too much lemon," Elena said.

Rude just grunted in such a way that seemed like he agreed with Elena.

Round three. Tifa made a glass for each of them this time. To her, it tasted quite pleasant, but she waited for a reaction from Elena or Rude.

Elena took a sip, swished it in her mouth to really taste it, swallowed, and then downed the rest of the drink like it was a shot.

"This. Is. It," she exclaimed, thoroughly feeling the alcohol.

Rude, too, seemed to approve, and Tifa couldn't help but giggle at the image of him in his dark Turk suit sipping on a glittery purple drink made with flowers.

"I think you could modify this and totally steal it for the bar," Elena said.

"Hmm, maybe," Tifa responded. "I'm just glad I was able to figure it out – plus I learned some new techniques."

_Meanwhile…_

Reno slammed his apartment door behind him and walked straight into his bathroom to turn on the shower – cold. He undressed and stood under the water with his left palm resting against the tile under the shower head. He looked down at the drain as the water ran over his muscles, snaking its way down his arms and legs and out below.

Even the blast of cold water couldn't get him to stop thinking about Tifa, though it did help him not to think about her _too_ much. He stayed like this for a few minutes, running his free hand up the back of his head and then back through his hair.

"_Fuck it_," he thought as he reached out to turn the water temperature up.

He hadn't been able to touch Tifa since their night in The Forgotten Capital, and he couldn't get her out of his mind. He _needed_ a release and set about doing just that.

He thought of Tifa's beautiful naked body on top of him near Aeris' lake, her breasts bouncing as she rode his cock like she was competing at a chocobo rodeo. He moaned as he lost himself in his own pleasure, remembering the feeling of his cock deep inside her as his hips slapped against her ass in the forest.

It took a while longer, but he finally came, saying her name out loud when he did. He was actually cursing her for whatever spell she had put on him – a spell that had completely changed him into this new, almost unrecognizable person in his view. He couldn't imagine being with anyone else other than her and found himself filled with fear that she would choose Cloud.

Dinner tomorrow would have to be perfect.

**A/N: So, this chapter got away from me. It started out being a short little break for Tifa from the boys in her life, but it clearly turned into a "T.C. Rose teaches you how to make an amazing cocktail." BTW, the Phoenix Flame is a real drink I found after searching "phoenix cocktail." Can't post a hyperlink here, but it's easy to find.**

**Props to The Flavor Bender, for the recipe.**

**Also, I **_**needed**_** some CloTi intimacy after beating the Remake, and then I missed the Reno smut, so I included just a glimpse of that as well. Hope you enjoyed anyway.**


	42. Emerald Skies

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 42:

Reno's eyes flickered as they scanned his unfamiliar surroundings, searching the area as if in a daze. He strained and contorted his face in an effort to remember how he got here and the events that led him to this point. It was as if he had just woken up from a dream, and immediately knew he needed to leave.

It was… surprisingly bright in here, and he squinted his eyes as he surveyed the room he was in. Lots of light, yet he couldn't escape. As he faltered, he felt a searing pain on his chest, just below the left side of his collar bone, and hissed. When he did so he felt pain in his jaw and brought his left hand up to his chin to try and set it back into place. It felt like he had been punched in the face – oh yeah, he had been. He looked down at his chest to see the large, square bandage that did little to protect his wound. Knowing exactly what would happen if he did, but being unable to control himself, he lifted a finger to the middle of the bandage and touched it gently. Another hiss of pain escaped his lips, and his jaw hurt again. What the hell happened to him?

He began looking around again to compose himself while his thoughts returned to a familiar subject: Tifa.

_Tifa…_

He wondered where she was and what she was thinking, and prayed he'd see her again soon. Last night had been… something else, but now he had to remember why he was here and what he could do to get out and see her again.

_The morning before…_

Tifa woke up with just the slightest headache – must have been all the sugary drinks last night – and climbed out of bed to stagger into the bathroom. She took a potion and returned to her bedroom to stretch and work out. It was finally time to get back to the real world and return to life as usual. That meant continuing her training in case anything else tried to destroy the world again. Sephiroth was gone, as was Jenova, but Shinra was back up and running – who knew what Rufus might be up to these days.

It was then she decided to check her phone for any messages and found one from Reno – sent at some point in the middle of the night.

"Sure. Meet me outside my building at 4," it said.

"_Outside his building? Dinner at 4?_" Tifa wondered what the redhead was planning for tonight.

She had made sure to only make herself one Phoenix Flame and drink no more than one glass of wine the night before after she and Elena returned from the club so she wouldn't be hungover today in case Reno agreed to move dinner back. After Rude and Elena finally left, Tifa cleaned up the bar, smiling to herself recalling her evening with the Turks, and went upstairs to prepare for bed.

As she did every night, the last thing she did before closing her eyes and resting her head against the pillow was to check her phone. No texts, voicemails, missed calls, or any other type of message from Reno – or Cloud.

She had felt that loneliness creep back up now that the Turks had left and she was alone with her thoughts – and neither of the two men allegedly vying for her attention had attempted to contact her. She thought about things from their perspective; Cloud wouldn't want to text so soon after their date so he wouldn't look needy (as if that could ever be the case), and Reno was probably playing some game that he knew would cause her to feel this way as part of the competition. Of course, there was also the whole thing where she forgot to even agree to dinner when he texted her…

She eventually fell asleep, hating how weak she had become when it came to her love life. She had always been weak in that department, but now she almost felt like crying after a couple drinks and a lack of texts.

But now she was awake and had received confirmation from the dastardly Turk, and her spirits instantly lifted, though she wished she could get a handle on her emotions. She returned to the bathroom to shower, her thoughts alternating between Cloud and Reno and what she should do about the situation.

When she exited the shower, her hair smelled of hibiscus and vanilla. She reached for her robe and put it on before wrapping a towel around her hair. She strolled into her kitchen for breakfast and coffee, again trying to focus her attention on reopening the bar the next night. When she finished, she returned to her bedroom to dress in her classic crop top and miniskirt, thinking it would be cheap to wear the same outfit she had worn on her date with Cloud just two days ago, although she now realized it had already been cheapened since she bought that outfit to torture Reno.

Just more confusion and guilt to deal with, she thought as she returned to her former daily routine. Now that the monsters had been gone a few days, she wanted to see if the volunteers had started building the theater again. She also needed some hardware to fix some of the damage caused to Seventh Heaven by fiend attacks. The damage hadn't been too bad, and she wouldn't be able to get replacement planks for the outer wall today, but she could pick up some nails and screws to reattach some of the shingles that had come loose.

She approached the theater cautiously, still prepared for a fight around every corner. But the fiends were no longer in the street, run out of town by the people of Edge as soon as it became clear the crisis had lifted. Tifa reached for the door handle to enter the lobby, and just as she was close enough to touch it, she heard the sound of a saw and other tools with muffled voices. She excitedly opened the door and entered the lobby before running back to where she heard the sounds and voices. There weren't as many people here as there used to be, but she figured – hoped – they would return eventually once they were no longer afraid to leave their homes. She found someone she recognized and cheerfully greeted them.

"Tifa! You came back!" the woman said, holding her arms out for a hug, which Tifa accepted.

"Yep! I missed you guys," she responded, looking around to see if anything had been damaged when the fiend population had grown too large.

"We missed you too, and the theater," the woman said, looking around nostalgically.

"Where can I help today?"

"How are your sewing skills?"

"Good enough, I suppose. I used to mend children's clothes back in the slums," Tifa said, referring to all the tears Marlene would get in her clothes from life under the plate, surrounded by machinery and scraps of metal.

"That should work, can you help me sew curtains today?"

"Sure, I'll try."

Tifa found the curtains to be much easier than Marlene's clothes, since they were just massive rectangles that needed to be hemmed. It was monotonous but she found the tediousness soothing, so she was actually surprised when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket as it snapped her out of her concentration.

She flipped it open and noticed that it was already 3 p.m. She needed to leave to get back to the bar to get ready before walking to Reno's. Her eyes widened when she saw the alert staring at her from the screen.

"One text message from Cloud."

He _never_ texted, and Tifa eagerly opened the message.

"Wanna go out again tomorrow?" it said.

She sat back against the chair she was sitting on to sew as a goofy grin graced her lips. Her fingers hovered over the buttons on her PHS as she prepared to type, but she stopped herself. Would she come off as too eager? Did that matter right now to Cloud? What if she responded back immediately but then he didn't respond back to _her_ immediately after that? Why was she so concerned in the first place?

She had given up trying to contact him by phone a long time ago, but he reached out to _her_. She took a deep breath and texted him back. Should she flirt? Keep it simple?

"Would love to, but I really need to open the bar back up," she said.

_Dammit_. She should have offered an alternative instead of just shutting him down. Now she was worried she had hurt him just like she thought she hurt Reno when she forgot to respond to his dinner invitation. Why must she feel this way about _both_ of them?

Her phone vibrated in her hands as she was wrestling with her thoughts. Another message from Cloud. He had now doubled his record for most texts sent to her in a single day – a record that had been set just 10 seconds earlier.

"Would you like some help with the bar?" it said.

Tifa nearly fell off the chair. Not only was Cloud texting her, but he was responding and asking to help her run the bar in lieu of a date. Back before his headaches got too bad, she wouldn't have given his help another thought, since he always assisted her with the bar at night. But now, when they were rebuilding their relationship – maybe – she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at his question.

But how to respond? How could she show she was happy but not desperate? She didn't know, and instead of racking her brain and leaving him waiting, she texted back: "Sure! See you tomorrow."

A moment later, Cloud texted back. "Great, it's a date."

Was he flirting with her over text messages? She smiled again and put her phone back in her pocket. Better not to risk saying something dumb or annoying. She sat for a moment continuing to overthink the simple exchange before she remembered that it was after 3 o'clock and she needed to get home.

She bid farewell to the woman who was sewing with her and walked back to Seventh Heaven at a brisk pace. It took her significantly less time to get home than it used to since she didn't have to battle any monsters, but she never wanted to be late for anything and thus made accommodations that usually made her much too early.

She entered the bar and walked upstairs to freshen up and put on just a touch of makeup. After her date with Cloud, she had thought tonight she'd be telling Reno she couldn't see him anymore, and she still knew she needed to do that, but she decided to prepare as if she were going on a date with Cloud. She put on a little mascara and covered up her perceived flaws. She spritzed a little perfume onto her wrists and looked into the mirror. She needed to psyche herself up. She needed to make a decision between the two men and she needed to make it soon.

She brushed her hair once more and locked up, taking a deep breath before heading in the direction of Reno's apartment building. It felt so good to be able to walk through the streets of Edge again without having to fight for her life every step of the way. The crowds were returning and the shops were reopening. It was as if the sun was shining again after a long, dark storm.

As Tifa passed one house, a mother and daughter emerged, shielding their eyes from the evening light and staggering out for what must have been the first time in weeks for them. The little girl clung to her mother's leg, shaking, until she saw the streets were clear. She let go and began running up and down the sidewalk in front of the house, cheering. Her mother smiled and took a deep breath, watching her daughter play safely. Tifa nodded her head at them with a smile as she passed, and the mother returned the gesture while the little girl nearly ran into the bartender's leg.

Tifa took in a deep breath of fresh air and closed her eyes just to feel the warmth on her skin. A cool breeze blew her hair softly and briefly gave her goose bumps. She hadn't stopped walking when she closed her eyes, and even though it was just a couple steps, she managed to bump into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" the man said angrily as his shoulder collided with hers.

Good ol' Edge.

She rounded the corner onto the street where Reno's apartment was. The building was a few blocks away, but she could see a figure standing outside with unmistakable flaming red hair. As she approached, she noticed he wasn't wearing his usual dark blue suit. Instead, his suit was black, all fitted to emphasize his slim physique. She couldn't help but examine him as she got closer. The white dress shirt he wore under his suit jacket was unbuttoned even lower than usual, and Tifa could only giggle to herself as she thought he was dressed as the male equivalent of Scarlet. She had to admit her eyes were fixated on his exposed chest, even though she could now see the smirk upon his face.

_Backed against a wall. Reno's hand on the underside of her thigh, lifting her leg up to his waist as he pressed his concealed erection against her panties._

Lust.

Tifa shook the thought from her head. She couldn't let hormones take over tonight. She had managed to hold back the other night with Cloud, even though they did kiss outside their hotel rooms. She remembered how badly she wanted to invite him into her room and how alone she felt knowing he was so close, but still not with her. It had felt like when they first reunited back in Midgar and his room was next to hers. She had hoped each night that he would come into her room and join her, but he never did, and she knew there was no way he would even if he had wanted to back then. Why would he take the chance when they hadn't seen each other in so long?

"See something you like?" Reno said, snapping her out of her thoughts and her eyes up to his face. He had that half smirk that told her she had been caught as he discarded his cigarette butt.

"New suit?" she asked to cover her embarrassment.

Reno shifted his weight onto one leg and placed his opposite hand on his hip, gesturing in the air with his free hand.

"New Shinra, new Turk uniform, I guess," he said. "It was Rufus' idea."

Now that Tifa thought about it, Rude had been wearing a dark suit last night, as well as a darker shirt than the usual white. Tifa had thought it was just what he'd wear when not in uniform, but she now realized that might have been a dumb assumption. They must have just gotten the suits, though, because Elena had still been wearing her dark blue one.

"No more dark blue then?"

"Heh, we can still wear them, but not during our new special assignments."

"Special assignments?"

Reno chuckled. "You a reporter now, Lockhart? Askin' a lot of questions, yo."

He started walking down the street in the direction where she had come from, and she lowered her head as he passed her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You look good, is all."

Reno stopped and turned back to her just as she lifted her head to see his ponytail was gone.

"I'm only teasing," he said before she could say anything about his hair. "C'mon, we've got an errand to run."

"Your hair!" she said as she stepped toward him.

This was too much. She had so many questions and now she was worried he would refuse to answer. Wait, isn't she still a little mad at him? Why is she worried about annoying him? He's been trying to chase her; she shouldn't have anything to worry about.

With renewed determination, she began to walk in the direction he was heading, and this time he joined her.

"So, first thing's first," she said, bringing her hand up to the back of his head to feel the trimmed hair where his ponytail used to be, "what happened to your hair?"

Reno laced his fingers behind his head where her hand had just been and sighed.

"Ahh, yanno, one of those things…"

"One of those things?" Tifa's tone was innocent and lighthearted, and it was making Reno excited.

"Yeah, it was time for a change," he said, not looking at her as he continued to walk to wherever they were going.

"Hmm, I think I can understand that," she said. "I've thought about cutting my hair a bunch of times, but I was always too scared."

At the mention of cutting her hair, Reno swiveled suddenly and closed the space between them, looming over her as if he were about to scold her. He lifted a finger between them, pointing up to the sky.

"Cut your hair?" he asked, shocked that she would ever consider cutting that gorgeous mane. "Babe, don't ever do it. You'd look hot no matter what, but that long hair of yours…"

He balled the hand he was holding between them into a fist, trying to control his own hormones. At that moment he wanted to slam her against the wall of the nearest building and bury a hand in her tresses while groping her with his other hand. But he had to behave. Needed to be cautious; show her he wasn't all about sex.

"You sure?" Tifa teased. She grabbed the end of her hair where it was bound and pulled it up over her head so that it folded to show how she would look with shorter hair. "You wouldn't like me with a bob?"

She grinned as she watched how uncomfortable Reno became. She could tell he was fighting just as hard as she was right now, and she found herself enjoying torturing him.

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it before the words fell out. Instead, he gave her a "humph" and looked straight ahead. Tifa giggled.

Point: Tifa.

"Okay, moving on to the second question," she cooed.

"What, we're way beyond question two now, yo!"

She laughed again. "Fine, moving on to question _whatever_."

"Go on."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "What're these new, 'special assignments,'" she made quotation marks with her fingers for emphasis.

Reno shifted again and crossed his arms. "It's actually really boring," he said.

"Tell me anyway," she said so sweetly Reno felt like spilling his heart right then and there – almost.

"Eh, Rufus misses running the world, but he can't get back on top with Mako, so he's getting' into the oil and coal game," Reno began.

Tifa's expression changed to one of concern. Shinra was trying to change? There had to be a catch.

"…and he's trying to buy up land where oil has already been found, and he's sending a Turk along with the lawyers and negotiators just in case."

"In case of what?"

"In case they don't wanna sell," Reno said flatly.

"What do you do if they don't wanna sell?"

Reno sighed and Tifa could tell he wasn't that enthused about this new job, even if she suspected his answer would be more along the lines of what the Turks were known for: Cracking skulls.

"We make them."

"That's terrible, why can't Rufus buy other land?"

"Because he's Rufus. He has scouts out looking for other land to buy but he also wants what has already been discovered," Reno said. "By the way, I have to go with a team next week to visit your friend with the gun arm."

"Barret?"

"You know another guy with a gun arm?"

"Actually, yes, but he's dead."

"Interesting… Anyway, here we are," Reno said as he came to a stop and motioned toward the grocery store they were standing in front of.

"Our errand is… groceries?" Tifa asked.

"Only the freshest ingredients for my lady," he purred, deciding to take a little chance with the pet name.

He knew he could call her Tifa now, or at least, he thought he still could, but now it felt weird. Better to go back to the way things were than risk a scolding.

"Alright, show me what you know," Tifa said as if she were challenging him.

"I can see you doubt me," Reno replied, leading her into the store and grabbing a cart. "That's fine, I thrive on doubt."

Tifa followed him while trying to conceal her grin. Never in a million years could she picture Reno shopping for groceries – with a cart no less. The one time she had been in his apartment she hadn't seen anything fresh – just leftovers in the fridge and bags of coffee in the cabinets. And of course, liquor.

Reno pushed the cart into the produce department and grabbed a sack of small red potatoes. He held it up to look over the individual potatoes, not sure exactly what he should be looking for – Rude said a _lot_ when they went shopping – but figured he'd know it if he saw it. Satisfied, he put the bag in the cart and moved on.

"Ooo, potatoes, does this mean you're cooking for me?" Tifa asked.

"Nothing gets past you," he said slyly, with no hint of arrogance.

His next stop was in front of the herbs. He couldn't remember what rosemary looked like, so he acted like he was deciding which herb he needed while he read the labels. Finding what he was looking for, he grabbed a small bundle of sprigs and held them in the air as he turned back toward Tifa.

"And as every good assassin needs: A sprig of Rosemary."

Tifa found herself giggling yet again. It had only been a week since she and he had… but so much had happened since then that she had forgotten how easy and fun it was to be around him. She almost hoped he would start a fight with her just to give her a reason to let him go.

"You know at least one herb. Impressive," Tifa said, genuinely surprised that he had any knowledge of cooking ingredients.

She remembered when she and Cloud first moved into the house in Edge, how she learned he didn't know the names of most vegetables. At first she was surprised, but then she realized that it shouldn't surprise her based on his life up until that point. Nibelheim was a pretty isolated town with limited crops. It was rare even for her family to get their hands on fruits and vegetables that weren't grown nearby, let alone Cloud and his mom, who had far less. She thought maybe he should have learned about more foods during his time in Shinra, but she supposed cooking and farming wasn't part of the agenda – and then those years he spent in captivity…

She snapped out of her memories when Reno grabbed a bundle of asparagus. He must be making a full meal. She would have been satisfied to know he could cook a potato, but now he was throwing asparagus into the mix? She was definitely impressed.

"You like asparagus, right?" he asked, bashfully. He had figured Rude would have studied Tifa enough to know what she would like, but now that he was picking it up he grew worried.

"Of course," she said.

She did like asparagus, but she preferred broccoli, though it was clear Reno had a recipe in mind and she didn't want to throw him for a loop when he was going to so much trouble. He seemed to relax with her answer and pushed the cart onward.

He had enough oil, seasonings, and garlic back home, as well as butter, but he wanted the main ingredients to be fresh. Plus, he could impress Tifa with his domestic skills – "skills" he had just learned from Rude the other day. Hopefully she wouldn't try to test him beyond this meal.

"So, tell me more about this meeting you have with Barret," Tifa asked as they crossed the store.

Reno groaned inwardly, knowing he shouldn't have told her about that. He hadn't seen her in days and was trying to play it cool, yet as soon as she started asking him questions his façade faded and he just gave in. Well, not anymore.

"They're just meetings," he said, resting his forearms lazily on the handle of the cart as he hunched over it to push. "Just one more thing!"

Without letting her ask a follow-up question, he pushed the cart forward and used the momentum to step up on the bottom bar, riding the cart straight toward the opposite side of the grocery store. Rude hadn't let him have any fun when they were here together, and Reno hadn't pulled that move since he was a kid and his mom was still alive. She would always yell at him to stop, of course. But now he was an adult, and he could do what he wanted.

"Hey!" Tifa called as she trotted behind him to catch up.

"I win," Reno said.

"You never said we were racing."

"Honey, we're always racing."

"Oh, that explains some things…" she said coyly, giving him a devious grin.

"Hey! Now you know for a _fact_ that ain't true," he said, pretending to be angry as he turned toward her and pointed a finger. "Take it back."

"Okay, okay, wouldn't want any nasty rumors to start," Tifa said with a smile.

Reno nodded his head and returned to the cart, turning it and walking toward the meat counter. He looked over the different types of steak cuts behind the glass, again pretending to be thinking about what he should get even though he already knew.

"Can I help you?" the burly man behind the counter asked.

"Ah, yes, the two ribeyes in the back, please," Reno said with confidence.

Tifa smiled at his little charade, amused that he actually used the word "please." She didn't think it was in his vocabulary.

"Ooo ribeyes, good call," Tifa said as she watched the butcher collect the steaks and put them on the scale.

"Yeah, well," Reno then leaned over her shoulder so he could sensually whisper in her ear a little too loudly, "I know how you like your meat."

Tifa turned a brilliant shade of crimson and swatted Reno in the chest with the back of her hand while looking at the man behind the deli counter to see if he had heard. He gave her a look that indicated he had, indeed, heard the comment but was pretending he hadn't. _Great_, now someone _else_ knew she slept with Reno. It's not like it made much a difference at this point, since the most important person already knew, but Tifa was still worried about the tabloids and what kind of awful lies they might print.

Point: Reno.

Reno just laughed as he collected the steaks from the butcher and put them in the cart before heading to the counter to pay. He had definitely miscalculated. Rude had used a cart, so Reno thought he would need one, even if he didn't have to purchase most of the items – like cookware – again.

"Can I help?" Tifa asked as Reno took out his wallet.

"No way, lady, tonight is on me," he said as he paid the cashier. "I'm carrying everything too."

It was just two bags; probably could have been one, but it was two, and he held them in one hand so he could use his free hand to smoke a cigarette as they walked back to his apartment building.

"When did you learn to shop and cook?" Tifa asked.

"This is the dumpster conversation all over again, isn't it?" Reno asked teasingly. Tifa's expression fell and she looked worried that she had insulted him again.

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Uh huh, sure Lockhart, sure," Reno continued to josh. "Let's see, adding this all up: You think I live in a dumpster covered with dirt and bullet holes but only own suits and can't even feed myself."

Tifa's cheeks turned pink. "You're the worst," she said.

It didn't escape her that he hadn't called her "Tifa" at all so far, even though they were alone and she had told him he could last week. She knew things had changed but being back to square one seemed wrong. Now the only other man she slept with wouldn't even call her by her first name.

When they were inside his apartment, Reno put the groceries on the counter and immediately spun around to face Tifa, placing his hands on the slab of granite behind him and leaning against it. Tifa looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Before I start cooking, I just wanna say something," he said.

Tifa's stomach did a flip as she considered what he might say and how she would respond. Reno scratched the back of his head where his ponytail used to be, clearly still not used to its absence.

"Eh, I'm not very good at this," he continued, looking down and slightly to the side as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Not good at what?"

"Apologies."

Tifa's mouth fell open slightly as she was taken aback.

"You… want to apologize for something?" she figured he would let the text be all he said on the matter. "But… your text…"

"Was just a text, yo," Reno looked completely uncomfortable. Apologies were definitely something he was not used to providing in person, if at all. "I shouldn't have said that shit, yanno? I was just, uh… dammit!"

Tifa approached him again with a sweet smile that said she understood and he didn't need to be afraid to say what he wanted to say. He met her gaze and almost smiled but remembered what he was doing and furrowed his brow instead. He wanted to just apologize and get out of this conversation with what little dignity he had left.

"I'm sorry," he lowered his head and stared at his feet like a little boy in trouble. It made Tifa's smile widen.

"I know how difficult that was for you," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his arm and looking at him with wide, accepting eyes, which he finally met with his own.

"Nah, that's not good enough," he said. "It needs something more."

Tifa's eyebrows arched down as her look changed to one of confusion. Was he talking about his apology or her response?

Reno snapped his fingers. "Got it! I'd feel better if you, like, hit me for what I said."

"Uh uh, no way," Tifa responded. "I know you get turned on from fighting me."

Reno couldn't help but grin. He hadn't thought about that, he really thought he deserved a good punch in the face for what he had said to her the other day – and for bugging her home and allowing all the Turks and Rufus to hear her pleasure screams, even if she didn't quite know about that last part.

"I wasn't saying it because of that. Just hit me, right here," he turned his cheek toward her and pointed to his jaw. "I deserve it."

"I'm not going to hit you, Reno. We were all exhausted and cranky that day."

Reno shifted his eyes toward her as a thought popped into his head. "_We_?" he thought. Was she referring just to herself or… wait! The flowers, the trip out of town… _Strife_ must have been an ass to her as well. Reno chuckled at the realization.

"Ah, come on, Tifa, you know it'll feel good. And I'm just _such_ an asshole."

"That's true sometimes," Tifa seemed to be pondering his offer.

"One free punch, nothing like last time…" though he had to admit he would love to spar with her and have it turn into something more. The thought of how their last fight ended with her pressed against the wall as he came dangerously close to penetrating her was not lost on him, and he felt movement in his loins. He had to control himself. One punch probably wouldn't get him going, even if it was from Tifa.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Scout's honor. One punch, I'll even keep my hands behind my back."

Tifa narrowed her eyes to study his expression for signs of a lie.

"Fine, if that's what you really want."

"It's what I deserve, babe."

Tifa tilted her head and gave him a look that said she wasn't buying it. Reno pushed himself off from the counter and walked into the living room with Tifa close behind. He again tilted his head to push out his cheek and prepared for her punch. Luckily, she wasn't wearing any of her serious weapons, even though he knew her fists alone were deadly.

Tifa pulled her arm back and balled her hand into a fist before giving Reno the weakest punch she could manage that wouldn't cause him to call her out. Even holding back, he still twisted from the impact and grabbed his cheek as it began to turn red. He hunched over and tried to catch his breath as a mixture of pain and hormones coursed through his body. Damn, even a weak punch from her could turn him on.

"Why'd you want me to punch you _before_ you ate?" Tifa said in a chastising tone. A quick flash of multi-colored light sparkles answered part of her question, as Reno cast Curaga on himself before smirking at her. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"Can we cook now?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Reno huffed and stood back up straight, still cradling his jaw. He cracked his neck from side to side and smiled.

"_We_ aren't cooking. _I'm_ cooking for you, babe."

Tifa blushed and shook out her fist. Reno's jaw was apparently designed to take punches. She rubbed her knuckles as she followed him back toward the kitchen. Reno stopped behind his couch and unbuttoned his suit jacket, draping it over the back of the sofa gently. He then removed his fingerless gloves and tossed them on the cushion before rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt up to his elbows. Tifa was instantly drawn to his muscular, veiny forearms, a part of him she rarely got to see.

"I assume you'll want to supervise?" he asked her as she stood toward the entrance of the kitchen so she wouldn't get in his way.

She nodded.

"Gotta make sure you don't lace it with anything," she said.

"Babe, seriously, your low opinion of me cuts to the core," he said while fumbling around in the kitchen, gathering pots and pans. He didn't look at her when he made the comment, and while his words seemed negative, there was no hurt in his tone.

Before he continued, he opened a cabinet and pulled out a tumbler and a wine glass. He then walked to his liquor cabinet and grabbed his favorite bottle of scotch and a decanter filled with Corel wine. He poured their respective glasses and handed Tifa hers.

She leaned back against the counter furthest from where Reno would need to prep and cook, sipping on her wine. She watched him for a few minutes as he pulled out cutting boards, cookware, and utensils before gathering all the ingredients he needed. A little smile formed on Tifa's lips as she watched him. He knew what he was doing, but it was clear he had recently learned how to cook this meal. He was a bit spacey and forgetful, not quite sure of himself or the recipe, and he stopped making cocky comments toward her.

Tifa knew he must have come up with this idea to impress her, and it had worked. She'd seen Reno hit on women before, but she couldn't imagine him going these lengths to get a girl to like him. It made her feel oddly special. The comfortable thoughts swirled in her mind and she casually looked toward his small dining table. For the briefest of moments, she thought she saw four people, almost ghosts, sitting there.

_A young girl with brunette hair and a young boy with wild red hair, sitting on either side of Tifa and Reno as they all laughed at something she couldn't hear._

Family.

She squeezed her eyes shut and quickly shook her head to dismiss the thought. That was weird.

For his part, Reno was trying to make everything exactly as Rude taught him. The bald man's flat, emotionless instructions kept ringing through his head.

_Generously season with salt and pepper._

_Toss potatoes with oil and rosemary._

_Trim asparagus._

_Bake for 30 minutes._

_Sear on high heat._

_Flip._

It was at that point Reno became completely flustered. He had the asparagus and potatoes roasting in the oven while he was searing the steaks and praying everything would finish around the same time. He knew the oven timer was close to chiming, so in a moment of panic he flipped one of the steaks over too roughly and dropped it back in the pan, splashing hot oil.

He heard Tifa gasp and turned to look at her with wide, fearful eyes. "_Oh God, I burned her_," he thought as she leaned against his counter with her hands covering her mouth.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She wiped at her thigh a moment but then met his gaze.

"Yeah, it was nothing, just shock," she said with a smile, which quickly dropped when she saw Reno's chest. "Reno! You're burned!"

He followed her eyes and noticed he had a rather large, round burn mark on his chest just under his collar bone. He hadn't even felt it, but now that she pointed it out, it really started to burn.

"Grab my glove, it has a Cure materia in it," he said, hissing in pain.

Tifa did as she was told and cast Curaga on him. The burn mark closed considerably, but she could tell he was still in pain.

"You keep cooking, I'll go get some first-aid," she said, already heading toward his bathroom.

He didn't object – knowing it would be futile – and returned to the steaks, which he splashed with the garlic and rosemary-infused oil in the pan before decided they were done. He plated them just as Tifa returned and the oven timer beeped.

"Perfect timing," he said, hiding the pain he still felt. He wished he had an Ice materia laying around, blizzard would feel so good on the burn right now.

Tifa waited patiently as he removed the side dishes from the oven and placed them on the stove.

"Okay, let me see," she said, motioning with her hands even though his back was to her.

Reno turned toward her and took a step forward. The food couldn't get cold _that_ fast, could it? Tifa reached out to tug the collar of his shirt even further toward his shoulder. Reno'd be lying if he said even her innocent touches didn't excite him. He was close to her, and her hands were on his chest, thankfully not over his heart because she'd be able to tell it was beating faster.

"I'm surprised you had antibiotic ointment, to be honest," she said as she squeezed some of it onto the cloth part of an adhesive bandage before ever-so gently pressing it to his chest while avoiding the actual wound.

He brought his hand up to cover hers on his chest, feeling her delicate fingers between his own while looking down at her. At first, she was still focused on his burn, but once he placed his hand over hers, she looked up into his eyes. His aquamarine irises seemed particularly warm and bright in that moment, and she felt the corners of her lips trend upwards. Reno, on the other hand, seemed to regard her with an almost sadness in his expression, despite the brightness in his eyes.

She knew what would happen if she let this moment continue, however, and couldn't let that happen. Just as she couldn't let things become physical between her and Cloud, she wouldn't allow it with Reno.

"We should eat before it gets cold," she said softly, glancing over his shoulder toward their dinner.

Reno gave her hand an inadvertent squeeze before releasing it and turning back to the pans he had removed from the oven. He took out a pair of tongs and portioned out some potatoes and asparagus on each plate, trying to arrange it in a way he thought Tifa might find pleasing. He then reached into a drawer and pulled out some place settings, drawing a sound of surprise from Tifa as he walked to the dining table and set it for dinner with a bit of waiter-like flare. Tifa heard herself giggle, unaware it had escaped her lips. Reno motioned for her to sit, pulling out a chair for her, which she took. He then stood behind her and reached around her to grab the cloth napkin, flipping it open and setting it on her lap, relishing one last look at her bare thighs before he did so. He returned to the kitchen for their plates and brought them out to the table, placing Tifa's down first.

"Need anything?" he asked as he retrieved his glass of scotch.

"I'm good," she said. "This looks delicious, by the way."

Reno sat down in his own chair and placed the napkin on his lap. He was rather accustomed to fancy restaurants, given how many important, yet clandestine, meetings he took as a Turk. It was nice not to have to be "on" though when he was around Tifa this time.

"Oh! One moment," he said, jumping from his seat and rushing back into the kitchen.

He returned with a small candle and placed it in the center of the table before pulling out his lighter and sparking the wick.

"You thought of everything," Tifa said, sounding impressed.

"It's just what Turks do," he said, taking a sip from his scotch.

Tifa tepidly cut a chunk out of her steak, nervous that while it looked good, it wouldn't be cooked quite right, even though she watched his every move. Her eyes slowly closed one after the other as she placed the steak into her mouth. It was amazing. Juicy, medium rare, with just the right amount of rosemary and garlic flavoring.

Reno watched her enjoy what he cooked, knowing he probably wouldn't see such euphoric expressions from her for quite a while – at least not from something other than his cooking. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Reno had to ask the question that had been burning in him all day.

"So, have fun with Elena last night?" He didn't mean it to come off as a snide remark, even if his ego was still bruised. He really just wanted to ask how she had been and felt this would be a less irritating path than leaving it open ended for her to possibly bring up Strife and _their_ date.

"She sent you that picture, didn't she?" Tifa asked, looking disappointed. "I _knew_ she didn't want to just take it for fun."

"Uh huh, and the one with Rude," Reno said between bites.

"Of course. I'm sorry about that, we started talking after she removed the bugs and then she suggested a girl's night and I don't know, I hadn't had one in a while," Tifa said as if she were explaining to a parent why she had gotten detention.

"Elena's good like that," Reno said, already thinking about how he would get his coworker back. She thought the stapler incident was rough? Oh, she hadn't seen anything yet.

"Yeah, but it was nice to have someone to talk to, at least for a little while."

Reno narrowed his eyes but avoided making eye contact with Tifa, suddenly jealous that the brunette didn't think _he_ was someone she could talk to, even if he had never been that guy before.

"Yeah, I guess you don't have many female friends except for that pesky little ninja," he said.

"Yuffie. But, yeah."

Another silence fell over them. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either. Now it was Tifa's turn to ask a question that had been nagging her since yesterday, thinking she could say it in a way that wouldn't spoil the evening, even if it meant a little betrayal.

"So, you and Elena's sister, huh?" she asked, instantly regretting it. She knew it was a risk to ask, and no matter how lighthearted she asked the question, there was always a chance it would ruin Reno's mood.

He nearly choked on his food, and for a brief moment, his eyes lit up with anger.

"I'm gonna kill her," he said.

It took all of his self-control not to slam his fist on the table and start yelling – not at Tifa, but at Elena. He wanted to pull out his phone and scream at the woman right now, but knew it would ruin everything he had built this night with Tifa. He forced down all his negative thoughts and looked at Tifa, whose smile told him she wasn't mad or jealous.

"It was a _long_ time ago – and a mistake," he said, measuredly.

Tifa shook her head and laughed.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see the look on your face, that was mean of me," she said.

"You're going on the list," he responded playfully.

"What list?"

"My Grudge List. Elena's at the top of it, and now I'm adding your name."

"Oh no, what happens to people on the Grudge List?" Tifa said flirtatiously, feigning fear.

Reno got up and walked around the table to rest one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table, bending over to meet her eye level.

"Well, for one thing, they don't get any dessert," he said, his nose just inches from hers.

"Oh no, whatever will I do?" Tifa couldn't hide her smile.

"I can think of a few ways you can make it up to me," he replied with a devious grin.

Tifa gave him a knowing look and smacked him playfully in the shoulder.

"Oh, you," she said.

Reno knew he couldn't just lean in and kiss her, even though he wanted to. He _wanted_ to kiss her so hard they both fell over the other side of the chair so he could be on top of her, but he'd just have to save that for his imagination later.

"Stay here," he said, giving her a stern look before retreating back into the kitchen with their plates and silverware.

Tifa didn't see hear him hiss in pain again, having hidden how much the burn still hurt, nor did she see what he was doing as his back was to her. She did watch his sinewy back muscles as they moved beneath his now-wrinkled dress shirt.

He walked out of the kitchen a few minutes later with two bowls of ice cream and set them down on the table before sitting back down.

"Well, this is a nice little treat," Tifa said, taking a spoonful and bringing it to her mouth. Reno watched as she turned the spoon upside down in her mouth and slowly pulled it out in order to get all the ice cream off of it. He only wished she had been licking a cone like she had when Barret visited, but this was pretty damn hot as well. "Guess I'm off the Grudge List already?"

"No way," Reno countered. "If you were, you'd be getting cake."

Tifa giggled and ate another spoonful. The truth was, Reno hadn't thought to ask Rude how to make some intricate dessert, but he happened to have some ice cream in the freezer and wanted to watch her lick the spoon. More imagery for later.

When they were finished, Reno picked up their bowls and took them into the kitchen and placed them with all their other dishes. They could wait until tomorrow.

"So, wanna watch a movie?" he asked, lighting another cigarette.

He'd really only planned to make her dinner, but he didn't want her to leave and felt this would be a good way to show her he could enjoy a quiet night at home – even without sex. He had been racking his brain while eating in order to come up with something more they could do that fit the theme of quiet domesticity.

Tifa looked at him skeptically. Every romantic movie she had ever seen ended up with the characters watching a movie leading to sex. She figured that idea had certainly crossed Reno's mind, but to be honest, she was having fun with him and it was too early to go back home. She had controlled herself with Cloud, she could certainly control herself with Reno.

"Sure," she said sweetly, surprising him. "By the way, how's that burn?"

"Eh, s'okay," he responded.

Tifa tilted her head and frowned. He was lying. He was trying to hide it, but every so often she could see him wince in pain.

"Let me get you an ice pack," she said, walking into the kitchen before he had a chance to object. She found a resealable bag, poured some ice into it, and wrapped it in a dish cloth before returning to Reno and gently pressing it onto his chest. The chill sent a shiver down his spine but he enjoyed having her so close. "Thanks," he said.

He thought for sure she would decline the movie and say she had to get back home. Really, it was a shot in the dark; he didn't even have any movies he thought a woman would enjoy watching. Now that sudden realization hit him and he worried.

"Uh, hope you like action movies, cuz that's all I got," he said, walking over to his TV and squatting down to rummage through his movies.

"Love action movies," Tifa said as she settled onto one end of the couch, leaning against the armrest so she wouldn't be tempted to cuddle up to Reno.

"Have you ever seen 'Dawn of Ifrit'?" he asked. Tifa shook her head. "Oh, you're gonna love it."

He popped it into the player and grabbed a couple remotes, backing up and around his coffee table until he was seated next to Tifa on the couch. Yeah, a romantic movie might have led to something he'd prefer, but this would hopefully keep him honest.

It started that way, at least. Tifa was a great substitute for Rude, laughing and joining Reno in making snarky comments about the characters in the film and their decisions. He filled her wine glass a second time and situated himself just a little closer to her on the couch.

She was halfway through her glass when she fell asleep against his shoulder. He had his arm stretched along the back of the couch but brought it to wrap around her waist, resting his hand gently on her hip. He closed his eyes and exhaled, silently praising himself for not pushing her tonight, knowing it would eventually lead to losing her. No, he had to play the game like Strife and win her over. It would be torture though.

He kissed the crown of her head and rested his cheek against that spot before whispering "goodnight, Tifa," when he thought she was asleep.

"Goodnight, Reno," she responded, barely audible, purely on instinct.

He found it difficult to sleep with her cuddled up against him, not because it was uncomfortable, but because now that he had admitted his feelings for her, he couldn't stop his mind from racing. How good it felt to hold her, how he didn't want her to leave the next day, what they could do together next, what Strife was planning, whether she would choose him – he couldn't turn off his brain and sleep.

He sat for hours basking in the warmth of her body leaning against his, but eventually he did, at least, doze off. When he opened his eyes again, it was morning, and Tifa had shifted so that her head was resting in his lap, her body curled up in the space between where Reno sat and the sofa's armrest. He still had his hand on her waist, while his left hand held what was now a bag full of water that used to be his ice pack.

Reno looked down at the brunette in his lap and grinned. She was still with him; she didn't wake up in the middle of the night and rush out on him. And, of course, her head was in a great place. But he couldn't think about that right now, _especially_ since she was still asleep.

As if on cue, she stirred, slowly lifting herself onto her arms as her messy hair fell about her shoulders. She looked at him through bleary eyes.

"Good morning, princess," he teased, keeping one hand on her back and brushing some of her hair out of her face with the other. She blushed.

"I fell asleep," she said, her voice dry and almost questioning.

"Mmhmm, snored like a hedgehog pie, too," he said with a smile. Tifa smacked him playfully in the shoulder.

"Did not!" she insisted.

"Okay, so it was a little cuter than a hedgehog pie," he offered.

Tifa rolled her eyes. Reno continued to hold her in his arms, not wanting to let her go and hoping she wouldn't say the words he knew she was about to say.

"I need to get home," she said softly.

"Stay," he implored.

She pulled out of his embrace and his eyes drooped, knowing she wouldn't agree.

"I can't, I'm reopening the bar tonight and I have a lot to do." She stood up and adjusted her skirt before gathering her things. At least he knew where she'd be tonight; he could get Rude and the others to join him for drinks later and be near her.

Tifa headed to his door and he followed, holding it open for her as she turned to face him once in the hallway.

"I had fun last night," she said sweetly. "And now I really do have to do a walk of shame."

"Nothing shameful about what you did last night," Reno responded, a little too seductively given the circumstances. It made Tifa smile though. "And I could always walk you home again."

"No, it's okay, I'll be fine," she said before standing on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

He had to admit he enjoyed it, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was ever enough for him when it came to her. Before she could pull back he wrapped his arms around her tightly, the feeling of her hips pressed against his, her flat stomach skimming his own, and her chest squished against him sending heat up into his cheeks.

Tifa was surprised by his sudden move, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his lithe frame and rested her hands on his upper back, leaning her head against his chest. They stood like that for a moment before he released her just enough to cup her face in his hands and kiss her. It was passionate, but not like it was when he first pressed his lips to her. It was more like the kiss they shared beside Aeris' lake in The Forgotten Capital, except something about this told her he wasn't about to pull her back into his apartment for sex.

It was a deep, sensual, goodbye kiss.

"Get home safe, then," he said in a tone she wasn't used to hearing from him. It sounded almost fatherly.

She nodded and turned to leave as he watched her from his doorway. She didn't look back, but she knew his eyes were trained on her, though she wasn't sure whether he was looking at her with lust or admiration.

It was love.

She was nearly halfway home before she realized she had a goofy grin on her face. She was taking the back streets home to hopefully avoid running into Cloud looking like she did. She knew it was a slim chance, but with her luck, he'd be out this early doing something and get upset when he saw her. She made it home without running into him, however, and leaned against the front door after she closed it.

_Her head resting against Reno's shoulder as his arm wrapped around her to rest his hand on her waist, pulling her close as she cuddled against him, soaking in his warmth._

Love.

_Present moment…_

"Sir… can I help you?" a young woman asked Reno just before his nerves got the best of him.

"Huh?" he asked, waking from his stupor.

"You look lost, first time in a jewelry store?"

"That obvious, huh?" he asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

The young woman smiled. She was petite and pretty, with curly brown hair and dimples – just the type of woman Reno would usually end up taking home. Not today though.

"So, what are you looking for?" she asked him as he walked toward the nearest display case, which held a variety of tennis bracelets with various gemstones.

"I… don't know," Reno answered.

"Well, who's it for? Your mother?" Reno shook his head. "Sister?" Another shake. "Girlfriend?"

Reno's eyes snapped at her, but again he shook his head.

"No."

"Ah, but she's someone special, huh?"

No answer.

"Alright then, what are you trying to say with this gift?"

"Huh?" Reno's eyes widened for a brief moment.

"How do you feel about her?"

Reno tapped his fingers on the glass and huffed.

"Yeah, I'm not telling _you_ that."

"I see," the woman said, the corners of her lips curling upward ever so slightly as she nodded her head. "So, you just recently admitted your feelings to yourself, hmm?"

Reno looked up at her as if she had just cast magic without materia. The woman knew she was on the right track.

"So, you've never felt this way about a woman before, and that scares you?"

Reno just blinked. What kind of mind-reading sorcery was this?

"…and you never want that feeling to go away; you never want to lose her…"

Did this woman know Rude and Elena?

"…and you're hoping a gift will tell her what your words can't?"

Reno continued to stare at her dumbfounded, his mouth hanging slightly agape. He hadn't even realized he was buying a gift to avoid speaking actual words, but this woman was right.

"Well, an engagement ring would say all that verbatim," the woman said, her voice light and a little too expectant.

Reno put his hands up defensively and shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, there. Let's not jump ahead here. I'm not ready for that, yet," he was surprised he said the word "yet." Was he seriously thinking about this? He shook his head and laughed.

"Well, how about a birthstone heart pendant? When's her birthday?"

Reno didn't want to admit he knew her birthday, or that he passed her bar on that day last year and noticed all of AVALANCHE celebrating with her, including _Cloud_. Everyone had looked so happy, and he had wished he were invited, but at that point, _no one_ knew how he felt about her, so he just moved on to the next bar.

"May 3rd," he said, taking a moment as if he had to think about it. This was a complete stranger, but he still wasn't ready for anyone to know exactly how he felt.

"So, emerald," she said. She nodded again and walked further down the display case, to a section with necklaces of various metals and with different gemstones housed within a heart-shaped pendant. "What do you think about any of these? We can get any one of these with an emerald."

"So, anyone with any birthday could be walking around with the same necklace?" Reno asked.

"Oh, so you want something as unique as she is," the woman said, her smile widening. "Come with me."

She walked out from behind the display cases and toward a glass door Reno hadn't even noticed until now. He had been too focused earlier on trying to calm his nerves so he wouldn't dash out. He followed the woman through the door and into a back room that was not as bright as the showroom out front, but with individually lit displays of jewelry that looked quite old.

"These are our antiques and one-of-a-kind pieces, for the discerning customer," the woman said with a wink, waving her hand out to motion toward the items in the room. "I can also walk you through the customization process so you can create something yourself."

"Me? Design jewelry?" Reno was quickly regretting the decision to come here. He was in way over his head. Tifa had left his apartment a few hours ago, and when he couldn't stop thinking about her, he rushed to the most expensive jewelry store in town (he'd once heard Rufus mention it for cuff links). And here he was, not sure why or what he was looking for, just panicking. "This was a mistake," he said.

"No, no, you can do this, it's not that hard," the woman pleaded. Must work on commission.

Reno sighed and let her help him design something. It was similar to the mass-produced necklace he had seen out front, with a different stylized heart encrusted with diamonds and a larger emerald in the center, all in a silver setting. It looked more antique than the pieces in the main showroom, something he assumed Tifa would appreciate since her home design was rather… classical.

Reno paid the hefty sum for the custom piece and left the store with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. He was having second thoughts. He didn't know what he was doing when it came to gifts or feelings, and now he was _designing_ jewelry? He wished his old self were nearby to punch him in the gut and remind him who he used to be.

Ruthless. That was a much more comfortable feeling.


	43. Swords Out

**Chapter 43: Seventh Heaven**

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 43:

Tifa had just stepped out of the shower and tied her red satin bathrobe around her waist when she heard a loud, booming knock on her front door. She wasn't expecting any deliveries, but she could never ignore someone at her front door, possibly to a fault. She immediately rushed toward the stairs and then down them, her bare feet causing soft thuds along the wood floor and her still wet hair leaving a trail of water behind her as her towel unwrapped from her head.

She stopped herself just before reaching the front door, aware that her robe had come untied, now held together only by the smaller, inner tie. She wasn't completely exposed, but certainly not covered enough for any potentially lewd deliveryman. She re-cinched her robe and held the two sides between her breasts together tightly in her fist, opening the door to find…

Cloud.

His cheeks tinted just a slight color of pink and he let out some kind or soft grunt to show he was uncomfortable with her current attire, possibly because he was turned on or that he thought she opened the door dressed like this regularly. She couldn't tell with him.

"Cloud!" she said, surprised to see him so early in the day.

She knew he planned to help her with the bar, but she figured that meant he'd be by later. She motioned for him to come in, but he shifted his weight instead and she now saw that he was holding several wooden planks up on his shoulder.

"What is this?" she asked.

"I saw the bar had been damaged by the monsters, thought I'd help fix it up," he said, setting the planks down to rest against the outer wall of the establishment.

"That's so nice of you – and unexpected," Tifa replied with a smile and her hands clasped in front of her chest. "Come in, the tools are still in the garage and I just bought some new nails and screws."

This time he took her up on her offer and entered the bar, looking around to see if anything inside had been damaged. He'd been here several times since the monster crisis ended, but he hadn't paid attention to damage back then, his mind focused on other things.

Tifa passed him after she closed the door and headed for the garage door.

"You don't answer the door like that all the time, do you?" Cloud asked. It was Tifa's turn to blush.

"Of course not! It's just that I was upstairs and heard the knock and rushed down so quickly…"

"Oh," Cloud said, sounding disappointed. He thought she might have known it was him.

She opened the door to the garage and turned on the lights, holding the door open and motioning for Cloud to let him know that he could enter. Glancing around at the garage, she now realized she had never repaired her truck from when she and Yuffie took it to Cosmo Canyon. She could see in Cloud's expression he noticed the damage too, and he looked concerned.

"What happened?" he asked, running his hand gently over one of the larger dents.

"Yuffie and I took it to Cosmo Canyon to research the Lifestream during the crisis," Tifa said, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame leading back into the bar. "It may look rough, but it still runs."

Cloud looked back at her while keeping a hand on the truck as if he could sense what she had been through while he was gone. She seemed to have come out of the whole crisis okay, but he couldn't help the guilt he felt for leaving her to fend for herself for two months.

"Anyway," Tifa sighed after a brief silence between them, "all the tools are still where you left them, take what you need. I'm going to go get dressed."

Cloud nodded his head and took one more mental image of her in her robe before she disappeared back into the bar. He had wanted her to stay dressed like that and with him in the garage. As he walked over to the workbench that contained the box of screws and nails she bought the other day, his mind began to wander. He wanted to push her robe up and off her shoulders so that it would fall to a satiny heap on the floor around her ankles. He wanted to take her in his arms and place his hands on her thighs to lift her up and back her toward the workbench. He wanted to lay her down on top of it and take her with all the built-up passion he had from going months without touching her.

But he knew he couldn't. Though his mind often settled on these thoughts, he had to push them down and concentrate on winning her back. Then he could spend the rest of his life holding her.

"Everything alright?" he heard her sweet voice ask from the doorway.

He realized he had been holding a box of nails so tightly that the lid had popped open and some nails had fallen out onto the workbench. He didn't think he had been lost in thought that long, but he looked over his shoulder to see her again standing in the doorway, only this time she was wearing the outfit she wore to their Gold Saucer date – the one with the thigh-highs.

Damn, he had been thinking about her a little _too_ intensely.

"I'm fine," he stammered. "Do you have any coffee?"

"Sure," Tifa said with a nod.

She looked at him skeptically for a moment until he started rummaging for tools. What had he been doing while she was getting dressed? Deciding not to ask, she turned to head back inside and grab him a mug of fresh coffee. She was nearing the garage door with the mug when he walked through with an armful of tools.

"Can you grab the ladder?" he asked her as she pressed herself against the wall to let him through.

"You got it," she said.

She hoisted the ladder over her shoulder while holding the coffee in her other hand and brought them both out the front door of the bar to Cloud.

"Thanks," he said, taking the coffee and sipping on it while she rested the ladder against the front wall next to the planks he had set down.

"Need any help?" Tifa asked.

"You could always keep me company," Cloud said with a smile as he brought the mug to his lips again.

"Just like old times," Tifa added, the corners of her lips curling up.

Tifa spent the day handing Cloud supplies while he worked to repair the outer structure of the bar. In the afternoon, she brought him some lemonade, just as she had done way back when they were first building the bar. Cloud graciously accepted the beverage, hoping it was a sign that things were returning to normal.

Normal? What was that for them? Most of their relationship involved him having flashbacks, nightmares, and headaches caused by Sephiroth and the Jenova cells. But that wasn't what he would consider "normal." He wanted things to be like they were when they first built the bar in Edge, when they were a happy couple.

"Much better at this than I used to be," Cloud said as he was attaching a new plank to the outside of the bar.

Tifa chuckled. "Yeah, I remember you and Barret trying to figure out the plumbing when we first built this place."

The two had spent days trying to find plumbers to help or books on how to install such a system. She remembered the cursing, the banging of pipes in frustration, and the look of pure joy on their faces when they finally got it working. Barret had grabbed Cloud in a rare bear hug as they celebrated, before they each pulled away, cleared their throat, and turned away from each other.

Tifa was no casual observer to the construction of her bar and home. Barret had come to help after they started – to help lift appliances and other heavy things. She was right there with all of them, lifting and hammering and sawing and welding – whatever needed to be done.

"How is the plumbing, by the way?" Cloud asked, stepping down the ladder.

"Still works great," Tifa answered with a smile.

"Well," I've done everything I can for now. I need some more supplies to fix the post, so I'll head out."

"The bar's about to open, you still have your key to the garage?"

"Yeah. Is… that okay?" Cloud said, lowering his head a little.

"Of course," Tifa responded immediately. "Just take what you get to the garage instead of through the bar when the customers are there."

"Sure thing. I'll also pick up some stuff to fix up the truck."

"That would be great!" Tifa exclaimed.

"Okay, I'll be back in a little bit and help with the bar," Cloud said, leaning forward instinctively to give her a quick peck on the lips.

They were both surprised by his action. Cloud hadn't even given it a second thought, but now his heart was beating out of fear he had become too familiar.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay," Tifa said with a warm smile before Cloud waved to her and headed out for supplies.

_A little later…_

The bar was in full swing, with Tifa taking orders and slinging drinks for multiple customers at once. As she was returning to the bar with a now-empty tray, she turned to the front door after hearing the familiar chimes to alert her of someone entering or exiting.

All four Edge-based Turks entered her establishment, with Reno the last in line and trying his best not to look too eager. Tifa's heart skipped a beat when she saw him, before plummeting to her stomach when she realized Cloud would be returning soon. She worried about what might happen between the two men tonight, being in such close proximity and with alcohol.

Reno sat at the bar while his comrades found an empty table. He was long past pretenses at this point and wanted to spend his evening flirting with Tifa. He'd go talk to them eventually, but for now he just wanted to be near her.

"Place is packed," he said when Tifa handed him his drink unprompted. He let his fingers brush against hers as he took the glass.

"Yeah, it's a good showing for the reopening," she said sweetly.

Another customer called for her and she left Reno to tend to them. He watched her ass while she walked away. He couldn't help himself. He'd seen and experienced every inch of her, so now he could just picture her doing normal things as if she were naked. Shaking that mixed drink? Naked. Pouring beer from the tap? Naked. Leaning over the bar to flirt with a customer for extra tips? Naked, though he didn't like watching that last one.

Still, after last night he thought he had a leg up on Strife. Now he was just waiting for the necklace to be made and he would, maybe, tell her how he really felt. He'd definitely give her the jewelry. Maybe he'd just let it do the talking.

His daydreaming was interrupted when he saw his chocobo-headed rival enter the bar from the back area. Reno had thought he'd get Tifa to himself – and the other customers – tonight. He snarled at the sight of Strife and turned his attention back to his scotch, cradling it in both hands and letting his leg bounce wildly on the bottom rung of the stool in frustration.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Tifa and Strife having a brief conversation. He couldn't hear what they were discussing, but it didn't seem flirtatious, at least, not in his view.

"So, I took a quick look at the truck," Cloud said once Tifa stepped toward him from behind the bar. "Like you said, it's running just fine, but I'd like to get those dents out of it if possible."

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him and wiping the inside of a glass. "But save it for tomorrow? I could use some help in here."

"Sure, no problem," Cloud said. "Whatcha need?"

"It's a little more crowded than I expected," Tifa informed him, waving her hand across the bar. "Could you bus some tables and bring me a new keg of Rocket Town Ale?"

"Got it, boss," Cloud said before heading into the back to grab a tray.

Reno watched as the blond left the bar area and began picking up empty glasses at tables. Reno chuckled to himself at the thought of the World's Hero becoming an errand boy and dishwasher. He finished his glass and slid it in front of the stool next to him that had just opened up. Within seconds, Cloud was standing next to him, picking up the glass and depositing it onto his tray.

Reno looked straight forward, barely trying to conceal his grin.

"Nice hair," he heard Cloud say, condescendingly. Reno's eyes narrowed and he snapped to look at his rival, who appeared amused and was just about to walk away.

Reno wanted to make some snappy comeback about how _Tifa_ liked his new haircut, but felt antagonizing Cloud over that particular subject might come back to bite him.

"Don't you have more tables to clean, Bus Boy?" Reno sneered.

Cloud just walked away.

"Checkmate," Reno said quietly to himself.

He knew he now couldn't sit alone at the bar hoping to get Tifa's attention, so he dropped some gil on the counter and took a seat with his colleagues as if he had just gotten to the bar entirely.

"Strife's back," Rude said in his usual, emotionless way. Reno groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, cleaning tables like he's her little bitch," Reno responded with a laugh.

"I'm sorry, did you _not_ just learn how to cook for her and spend this morning des—" Elena managed to say before Reno put his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking. Why did he tell her about the necklace? She'd never keep it a secret, but she was the only woman he felt comfortable talking to about the jewelry.

"Uhbupbupbupbup," Reno mumbled as he held his hand over Elena's mouth. She made an irritated grunt from behind his hand before he removed it.

"I would just be careful about calling _other_ people her little bitch," Elena said quickly with a laugh.

Reno shot her a glare before turning in his chair to look at Tifa. Rude and Tseng exchanged subtle smirks.

"There are tons of customers, but the tips aren't very good," Tifa told Cloud once he set down the keg.

Cloud considered making a flirtatious comment about what she was wearing but worried it would offend her. When they were together, he had no qualms about flirting with her, but now he kept thinking his flirtations would be unwelcome.

Screw it, he had to try something. _Reno_ would surely make the comment, and right now Cloud needed to be bolder.

"Maybe wear your blue dress tomorrow?" he asked with a wink.

Tifa's face turned bright red and she quickly looked around to see if any customers had overheard.

"Cloud!" she scolded in an unserious way that let him know she was embarrassed but not angry. Her expression quickly lifted to a smile.

For Tifa, it was at first a reminder of her last-ditch effort to keep Cloud from leaving her, which failed. But the fact that _he_ was now bringing up the dress made her wonder if she had gotten through to him back then in some way. Did he think about that dress often?

Cloud mentally high-fived himself for pulling it off. God, what he wouldn't give to go back to that night she wore the blue dress for him now that he wasn't suffering.

He also made a mental note to flirt more openly with her, like he used to. He was sure Reno had no problems joking and flirting with Tifa, and Cloud knew he needed to show her that he could be "fun," too. Ugh, he hated the fact that he was comparing himself to _Reno_ or considering being more like that murderous Turk, at least in some respects, but he couldn't be shy or quiet around Tifa and hope to win her back.

Tifa gave Cloud one last knowing glance before heading out from behind the bar to assist the seated customers. Cloud watched her sashay her hips for a moment before eyeing the Turks' table. Reno seemed to be missing – probably out on a cigarette break – so Cloud decided to help Tifa by taking out the trash. He hadn't wanted to leave her alone with the Turk any more than he had to, so he felt it was a good time to disappear for a minute.

It was dark in the back alley; the light above the bar door had burnt out, so Cloud made a note to replace the bulb tomorrow. As he took a step toward the dumpster, he sensed someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't see the person, nor were they making any noise, but Cloud's Mako-heightened senses allowed him to detect the slightest hint of movement. Even without the Jenova cells, he was still scientifically enhanced.

He could just barely make out the silhouette of the person slowly strolling up the alley from the street. Cloud's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He stepped toward the dumpster to make his presence known and lifted the lid to throw in the trash, mentally preparing for a confrontation.

"Shit," he heard a voice say in the dark.

Cloud quickly moved his hand to the hilt of the sword on his back, recognizing the voice.

"What are you doing back here, Reno?" he asked coldly, though he already knew the answer.

"Back alleys are dangerous, yo," the redhead responded nonchalantly.

"So it seems."

Cloud wasn't looking for a fight, even with Reno, so he lowered his hand and stood up straight to return to the bar. He _wanted_ to fight the Turk for what he had done in Cloud's absence but knew that wouldn't be the best way to get on Tifa's good side.

"You know you don't deserve her," Reno said just as Cloud reached for the door handle.

The blond hesitated and sighed.

"No. I don't," he said before turning toward the Turk. "But neither do you."

"Hey, I've _made_ amends for my sins" – except that whole apartment bugging thing – "and I was here, picking up the pieces while you were wallowing in misery over some dead girl."

Cloud's eyes lit up with anger at the mention of Aeris. "That's… not what it was about."

"Does _she_ know that?" Reno asked.

Cloud's eyes widened for a brief moment and his lips parted. Did Tifa still think Cloud left her because he loved Aeris? Didn't he explain to her that he never loved Aeris, only the part of him that took on Zack's personality?

"She does… I mean, I think," wait, Cloud didn't need to convince _Reno_ of anything. "Hey – that's none of your business," he hissed. "You were a mistake. My fault, but now it's time for you to get out of our lives." Cloud's fingers instinctively wrapped around the handle of the sword attached to his back.

Reno was taken aback for a moment by Cloud's viciousness. He wasn't about to go away quietly. He spent two years fawning over Tifa and two months trying to win her over – and just when he had her, chocobo head decided to show up out of the blue and now he was insisting he had a right to her? Cloud's comment made Reno's blood boil. The part of him that had learned self-control over the past two months broke instantly, and that little voice in his head that kept telling him this would hurt his chances with Tifa was drowned out by indignant rage.

"You _had_ your chance with her," Reno sneered, unholstering his EMR and flicking it to the side to power it up. "Now it's _my_ turn!"

He ran out of the shadows and lunged toward Cloud, faster than the blond had ever seen him move. With a battle cry Reno was in the air, coming down right above Cloud. The swordsman barely had enough time to withdraw his weapon before Reno landed on the wide, flat side of the blade over Cloud's head. The Turk stood crouched above Cloud on the sword, with his mag rod connecting with the blade and electrifying it. Reno's rubber soles protected him from the sparks that had encased the cold steel, but his weight and time were working against Cloud. Within seconds, the sword would lower enough to electrocute Cloud's head. As it was, he could feel his hair reacting to the electricity flowing between the two men's weapons.

Cloud planted his feet and struggled to keep the current away from his skin. He had almost forgotten what it was like to fight a Turk. He didn't remember coming this close to severe injury during any of his other battles with Reno. The man seemed to simply jab with his EMR or encase someone in a pyramid. Now that Cloud thought back to those fights – in the seconds that passed as Reno stood on his sword – the blond did remember needing to break the barrier around Tifa more often than Barret or Nanaki. Had Reno liked Tifa this entire time?

With a great effort, Cloud heaved his sword outward, forcing Reno to backflip off so that he could land on his feet in front of the blond warrior. In an instant he had recovered and leapt toward Cloud again. This time, their weapons clashed in front of their faces, and the sparks provided enough light for Cloud to see a look in Reno's eyes he had never seen before.

Cloud had always thought Reno had a sadistic grin when they were fighting on their first journey, but tonight there was something different. Reno's eyes were focused, almost cat-like. He wasn't just fighting for his employer or because he enjoyed it. This time, he was fighting for something more.

Cloud had never considered the possibility that Reno could have developed such visceral feelings for Tifa. _His_ Tifa.

_Meanwhile…_

Back in the bar, Tifa and her patrons heard the first sound of metal clashing against metal and what sounded like a sudden lightning storm. She would have ignored the loud sound and assumed critters were in the alley again, but she happened to glance out toward the tables and noticed Reno wasn't sitting with the other Turks. She quickly scanned the room to discover Cloud was nowhere to be found either, and she immediately dropped the glass she was holding and ran out the back door.

Cloud and Reno had their weapons locked, each man pushing against the other with all his might for dominance, their faces just inches apart as sparks crackled between them.

"Cloud! Reno!" Tifa yelled as soon as she saw them.

Was it petty that both men noticed she said Cloud's name first? And each had their own explanation for it?

Reno clicked his EMR off and Cloud lowered his sword as they both turned toward her, guilty.

"Are you two serious?" Tifa asked, her hands clutching the sides of her head in frustration.

"Tifa…" Cloud said, reaching a hand toward her weakly.

Reno clipped his mag rod to his belt and stuffed his hands in his pockets. At least he was still on even ground with Cloud in this situation.

"Both of you: Go home," Tifa ordered. "_Separately!_"

The two men looked at each other briefly but didn't move. They again focused on Tifa, their eyes almost pleading.

Tifa threw her hands up in frustration and turned back to the door, grabbing the handle while resting her other hand on the door itself.

"I'm not…" she trailed off, her voice heavy.

She didn't think she deserved either of these men. She had developed feelings for another man – and acted on those feelings – while Cloud was doing everything he could to get better and return to her. Sure, she didn't know what he was doing, but she couldn't stop feeling guilty.

And Reno had grown so much in the past two months _because_ he had wanted to be with her, yet as soon as Cloud came back, she considered going back to him.

"…worth it…" she finished, opening the door and quickly returning to the bar.

The two men blinked as they watched her disappear inside.

Cloud had no idea how Tifa could think she wasn't worth fighting for. He had spent damn near his whole life fighting for her, and he wasn't about to stop now. His anger over being blamed for her fall off Mt. Nibel and the frustration he felt for not being able to save her led him to fighting in school. He joined SOLDIER, prepared to fight to impress her. He killed _Sephiroth_ to avenge her injury. He joined AVALANCHE to fight for the planet – at her behest. Everything after that, though he wouldn't admit it at the time, was all for her.

For Reno, he was a changed man thanks to Tifa. All she had to do was exist, and she taught him there was more to life than being a Turk. He couldn't imagine returning to a life where all he did was work, drink, and pick up women without a second thought about the future. Now he was considering a future – with her. No, he hadn't thought it all out, like kids or pets or retirement, but he did know he wanted to see her every morning when he woke up and every day after work. He'd _never_ felt that way about a woman before, and even though it still scared him, it was exhilarating.

Work used to give him that feeling: A fear of the unknown. Now he had that with Tifa – a whole different unknown – and he wasn't about to give that up, especially not to Cloud Strife.

Reno looked at Cloud to see if the blond was prepared to obey Tifa's orders. The Turk wasn't about to give up ground if his rival wasn't either. Reno hoped Cloud would leave the alley first, so that _he_ could slip in the back door and try to talk to Tifa, or at the very least, pay his tab and leave a generous tip as an apology.

Cloud, however, wasn't moving either. He was still looking at the back door of the bar, his arms crossed, as he calculated his next move. He needed to talk to Tifa without Reno nearby, to apologize and to explain himself. He didn't want to leave her while she was mad at him and didn't want to chance Reno hanging back to make a similar move.

Reno's impatience caught up to him, and he moved first. He groaned, placed his hands behind his head, and began walking back down the alley toward the sidewalk. As he rounded the corner to the front of the bar he quickly leaned back against the wall, between two of the windows. He hoped it would be dark enough so that Cloud would walk right past him and off into the night, allowing Reno to enter the front door and carry out the rest of his plan.

He waited for what felt like a few minutes, but Cloud never appeared. Reno twisted around to peer into one of the windows. He immediately sneered when he saw Cloud behind the bar trying to talk to Tifa, who didn't look like she wanted to hear it. She kept turning away from him and flailing her arms in frustration, as Cloud tried to soothe her. They both kept glancing around to see if they were making a scene. Finally, Cloud looked defeated, pleading with Tifa once more before quickly walking toward the front door.

Reno hopped around the side of the building just before Cloud burst out of the bar and rushed down the street in the opposite direction. Before the door could close, Reno slinked inside to leave a large stack of gil on the Turks' table with quick instructions to Elena that it was for Tifa.

Keeping low to the ground, Reno snuck out of the bar, the door jingling as he left and causing Tifa to look in its direction for the new customer. Instead, she saw the door closing but no one entering the bar and returned to mixing a drink. She brought a tray over to the Turks' table and handed Elena her vodka-soda and Rude another scotch.

"What happened?" Elena asked as she took her glass from Tifa.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Tifa replied.

Elena pushed the stack of gil left by Reno toward the barmaid.

"Well, Reno left this for you, with his apologies."

Tifa made a noise that was somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle. She picked up the gil and counted it as she walked back to the bar. Reno had _never_ left her such a big tip, even when he was trying to get in her pants. She put the money in her cash box and continued with her work.

Rude had stood up as soon as he heard the clatter in the back alley, knowing immediately what the sound meant. He may have just participated in saving the world with AVALANCHE, but he would back his partner until their last breath. Before he could leave the table, however, Elena and Tseng were on either side of him, each with a hand on one of his shoulders.

"Don't," Elena pleaded as Rude drooped his shoulders. "If you or either of us help him it'll look like an ambush – and that'll make everything worse for him."

Rude knew she was right. Any additional Turk would remind Cloud – and Tifa – of the days when they were enemies. Reno may have made a dumb move, but he would have to continue alone. Rude hated leaving his partner to Cloud's mercy but returned to his seat once he saw Tifa run out the back door.

Elena and Tseng exchanged glances after Tifa returned without either of the men. She looked angry and sad at the same time. The Turks didn't think Reno or Cloud had said something that would offend her, but the look on her face was one of hurt, nonetheless.

They watched as Cloud came in a few minutes later, pleading with Tifa to forgive him and claiming it was self-defense. The Turks didn't doubt him for a second but did find it odd that after all of his progress, Reno had apparently reverted to his hot-headed self – and at such a bad time.

"Tifa," Cloud said quietly after waiting to let her cool down a little.

"I don't want to hear it right now, Cloud," Tifa responded, moving away from him to clean up some glasses from the bar. Her cheeks were flushed from the embarrassment of her patrons hearing the fight.

"Tifa, please!" Cloud begged, a little louder.

Tifa turned to him and flapped her arms in frustration.

"Cloud! I can't deal with this right now, please, just go."

Cloud tapped his fingers on the bar counter and watched her as she moved away again. After she helped another patron – putting on a fake smile to make it seem like nothing had happened – she had to walk back over to the end of the bar where Cloud still stood. She didn't make eye contact with him, but he knew she saw him.

"Tifa, you _are_ worth it," he told her, his head hung low.

"Cloud…"

"You are," he said, locking eyes with the barmaid. "I'm sorry."

Cloud left the bar quickly and returned to his hotel room, kicking a chair once he entered. Things were not going well with Tifa. He was nervous around her like he was when she first found him at the Sector Seven train station, when he was so messed up from Mako he could barely form a sentence. The shock of waking up from whatever fugue state he was in and finding himself in the arms of his childhood crush only added to the stress.

And now he felt like he did back then. When he looked at her, his heart skipped and butterflies swarmed his stomach. His heart raced when she was near and he blushed if she stood too close. It was like he was back at square one and couldn't help the nagging feeling that Reno was not so nervous around her.

Cloud sat on the edge of his bed and rested his elbows on his knees, cradling his head in his hands. He had to get over his nerves if he wanted to win her back – and he _certainly_ couldn't fight Reno again. At least Cid's engagement party was only a couple days away. He could be with Tifa and just AVALANCHE outside of Edge and away from Reno.

He only hoped he hadn't blown it.

_Meanwhile…_

Reno briefly considered hanging around Seventh Heaven to talk to Tifa after closing. That would have given her enough time to cool down, right? He _just_ had an amazing night with her. She was in his arms and now he had screwed everything up. He thought he'd silenced the part of him that would fight anyone for any reason.

He took his time walking home, puffing on a cigarette and letting the cool night air calm him. Life just wasn't the same now that the monsters were gone and he was no longer required to spend his days with Tifa. He flicked his third cigarette butt to the curb just before entering his apartment building. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator as it traveled to his floor, closing his eyes and lifting his face toward the ceiling, wishing he could ask Freyra to write another apology for him.

Probably not. The fact that she helped him once was a miracle itself, asking again would be pushing his luck.

He walked into his bedroom and pulled aside one of his nightstands. He pulled up the corner of the carpet until he could see the door to a floor safe. After inputting the code, he reached into his suit jacket pocket and removed what was left of his paycheck. Pay day, and a good chunk had just gone to Tifa as an apology. He took about half of what remained of the stack (direct deposit, what's that?) and forced it into the duffle bag contained within the safe. He had enough stuffed in the bag to probably let him live comfortably somewhere the rest of his life, but since Freyra had stolen his other emergency bag, he felt short. He returned the rest of the gil to his jacket pocket.

He didn't think he would actually ever need the bag, but adding some after every other paycheck had become a habit. He had more than enough to live off of by himself and couldn't think of anything else to spend his money on except booze and cigarettes. He supposed he could buy some house somewhere far away, but he liked his job and didn't need a mansion in another city to impress women. And now…

He had been thinking – just before Cloud returned – that maybe he could use all the money he saved up to build a mansion on the western continent. Stay there with Tifa on their days off, maybe even…

Nah, he shook his head, it was a dumb thought. It was never a real possibility, even if Cloud had never come back. Better to just keep saving that money for an emergency.

He closed up the safe and covered it with the night stand before flopping back onto the bed and taking a deep breath. What was the point of dreaming beyond what he already had? Until Tifa, he thought he'd achieved all his dreams, but now life felt so empty.

He reached for his phone and held it over his face.

"_Tifa, you're worth it. Good God you're worth it,_" he texted, instantly hating his choice of words. Could he sound like _more_ of a school boy?


	44. Tough Decisions

**A/N: So, I never thought this story would go on this long. In reality, it should have been longer, since most of the first 16 chapters were shorter than all those that came after.**

**I love this story and honestly don't want it to end, but I feel the end is near. I've always known how it would end but knowing its close makes me a little sad.**

**This is the longest story I've ever written – fan fiction or otherwise. There are still at least a few chapters left, but it's getting to be time.**

**Rated M for language and sexual content.**

Chapter 44:

Reno stood hunched over his kitchen counter, his arms folded in front of him on the granite and his face buried in his forearms. In his left hand he held a lit cigarette, angled away from his face. The smoke wove and twisted into the air like the branches of a Wutaian maple tree, doing as it pleased and taunting the man who gave it life.

He had lit up the cigarette as soon as he exited the shower, taking a long drag before strolling into his bedroom to put on a pair of boxers and his suit pants while holding the filter of the cigarette between his lips. He then staggered into the kitchen to make coffee and decided to put his head down while he waited.

He fucked up again. His only consolation was that he brought Cloud down with him, but he would have preferred to remain unscathed. Neither of them could win if they kept pissing her off.

He had nearly drifted off back to sleep when the coffee maker beeped. His eyes snapped open and he realized he smelled coffee and the faint hint of something else… burnt hair! He quickly stood up to discover he singed the tip of one of his spikes with his cigarette. So, that's how today wanted to play, eh?

He finished his smoke and tossed the butt into the kitchen sink as he turned around to pour himself a cup of coffee. Every time he brewed his own, he told himself to get nutmeg and vanilla beans so that it would taste like Tifa's, but every time he left his apartment he'd forget to pick up any.

He bent at the waist and leaned back over his counter, this time propping himself up on his elbows and sipping his beverage. His lean muscles glistened from his shower as his mind turned to the text he had sent her last night. She hadn't answered, but what could she say to that? She wasn't the type to fish for compliments, so he didn't think she'd respond to disagree, nor would she ask him to elaborate.

He was still grousing over the words he had used. "Good God, you're worth it"? He might as well have confessed his feelings for her. That text probably said more than the necklace or even a ring and proposal would have, at least in Reno's mind. Tifa must think she had him wrapped around her little finger, desperate and dependent like an orphaned kitten.

He groaned loudly and set his mug on the counter, wondering what his former self would think of him now, all angsty and remorseful.

_What the hell, yo? Why ya mopin' around like Cloud Strife?_

"Don't wanna talk about it," Reno said as a cocky, confidant version of himself sat on his kitchen counter, leaning back on his hands casually.

_This about a woman?_

"So, what if it is?"

_Wow, what happened to you? Remember our motto? 'If you're alone, you can't lose anyone.'_

"Maybe I don't want that anymore."

_Tch. Of course you do. Remember what it's like to lose someone? We'll never go through _that_ again._

"Maybe it was worth it."

_No way. Now get off your ass and go bang someone! You look pathetic. What would the underlings think of you seeing you like this? You think Alvis, Ruluf, or Balto would still respect you now? What about Veld? You'd never have been promoted over Rude if you were like this back then._

Reno sighed, knowing the voice in his head was right. But he wasn't used to these feelings and didn't know how to control them. The thought of just going out and picking up some chick made him physically ill.

He was thankfully freed from his thoughts by the buzzing of his phone.

"One text message from Tifa."

Well, at least that brought him out of his melancholy state, though he didn't much like the way his heart or stomach felt right now. He opened the message and a small smile immediately graced his lips.

"Thank you. That's very sweet," she had written.

He let out a brief chortle. _Of course_ that's what she would say. She really wasn't looking for compliments when she told him and Cloud that she wasn't worth their attention the night before. Reno knew it at the time, since she immediately entered the bar without giving them a chance to disagree with her. And then it dawned on him: She really, truly believed she was inadequate.

He blamed Strife for that. She spent all those months chasing Sephiroth and hoping Cloud would notice her – and then his leaving could only make things worse.

Reno wondered now if he could have or should have done more two years ago to show her how much she was valued and desired, but what could he have done? Even if he renounced Shinra, quit, and joined AVALANCHE to fight his former employer while actively pursuing her it wouldn't have mattered since she was so in love with Strife at that time. All the men in the world could have given her what she wanted and needed, and she still would have felt inadequate because of him.

Reno clenched his fists, hating Cloud more at that moment than he ever had before. This was something Tifa would always feel, but Reno decided he would at least _try_ to change that.

He opened his phone again and typed back: "You know me, Sweet's my middle name, doll."

The first Shinra meeting to discuss oil was happening later today in Gongaga, so Tseng had been the Turk sent to ensure the deal was made, meaning Reno had no real supervision today. Sure, Rufus could pick today of all days to leave his own office and slum it on down to the Turks' office for the first time ever – and today _would_ be the most likely day for that – but Reno decided to take his chances. There really wasn't anything to do at the moment, and Reno's meeting with Barret was still a few days away, so he decided to find Tifa and make amends instead.

He returned to his bedroom to grab a white dress shirt and put it on, buttoning only a few middle buttons and leaving the shirt untucked. He'd forgo the jacket since he wasn't on official Turk business and he knew he'd probably work up a sweat where he was going.

He took a look at himself in his full-length mirror as he rolled up his sleeves and smirked before frowning when he noticed the singed hair at the tip of one his flaming red spikes. He gently touched the damage, knowing that probably no one would notice it, even though he knew it was there. He also knew himself well enough to know he'd probably point it out to Tifa. Probably within the first few minutes of seeing her. Probably before he even apologized fully.

He walked back into his kitchen and noticed he had a text message waiting – from Tifa. His spirits instantly lifted.

"I'm not even sure Reno is your real first name," the message said.

She was a shrewd one.

_Later…_

Tifa had never been this happy to help build the theater, given the frustration she still felt over the night before. She'd had a friendly text conversation with Reno, but it hadn't done enough to quell her anger at him and Cloud for fighting over her. Were they really that immature? She laughed to herself as she traveled the streets of Edge. Yes, they were that immature. They may both be adults, but they were some of the most childish adults she knew. Reno was Reno, and Cloud had been so messed up from Mako and Jenova cells that when she found him at that Sector Seven train station, he had the mind of a 16-year-old. He'd grown up a lot since then, but not completely, it seemed.

She arrived at the theater to discover lights had been installed. There was scaffolding in the audience area near the stage as crews worked to hang overhead stage lights. Since electricity wasn't her thing – especially having been electrocuted so much during her adventuring days, not all thanks to Reno – she passed the auditorium to help backstage.

The woman who had helped her sew curtains the other day ran up to her, smiling brightly.

"Tifa! Your friend has been a _Godsend_!" she exclaimed as she approached the bartender.

Tifa just looked at her with confusion. "Friend?"

"Yeah, you know. Spikey hair, hot as hell?" the woman added, motioning with her hands above her head to indicate hair spikes.

Given the men Tifa knew, however, that didn't exactly narrow it down much. Another worker approached the two women. He also seemed excited.

"Oh, he's been great. We had him sawing boards when he overheard a couple guys complaining about the power cables not working," the man said. "He unscrewed the caps and said the hot and cold wires were crossed. He taught us how to fix 'em, and then installed all the house lights. Dude's been here an hour."

Rather than ask for a specific hair color, she decided to find out for herself which of the men chasing her affections had decided to win her over by helping build the theater. She gave the builders a "hmm" and turned to walk into the auditorium. She couldn't see who was at the top of the scaffolding due to some of the lamps obstructing her view, so she jumped off the stage and walked toward it.

Just as she approached, she hopped back when someone swung down from above. She quickly found herself face-to-face with an upside-down Reno, who was hanging with his legs secured in the guard rails up above. She gave him a knowing glance and tilted her head.

"Hey babe, nice of you to come help," he said, folding his arms across his chest as he continued to hang.

"Should have known it was you when they mentioned electricity," she said, placing her hands on her hips as he grinned. "I had no idea you knew anything beyond your mag rod and thunder spells."

"Hey, you've _seen_ how good I am with my mag rod. I built her myself," he said proudly, jabbing a thumb toward his chest. Tifa blushed and pursed her lips.

"Well, that explains a few things," she said slyly.

"Actually, _that_ was a fluke, but I should patent the thing, ya think?" Reno's grin widened, though from Tifa's angle it looked like a frown.

She rolled her eyes.

"Would you come down from there?" she asked, trying to keep her eyes focused on his.

She kept glancing up, as the fabric of his pants had pinched between his legs and railing, causing them to slip down (or up, depending on whose view) below his hip bones, revealing his Adonis Belt and happy trail. Tifa thought she noticed a few red, curly hairs just above his belt buckle, causing heat to pool in her loins. His shirttails had succumbed to gravity, and if Reno didn't have his arms crossed, his entire torso would have been exposed, given the lack of buttoning on his dress shirt. The front ends of his shirt draped over his elbows and he continued to casually hang from the scaffolding as if it were perfectly normal.

Tifa felt an extreme urge to run her fingers over the lines of his toned abdominal muscles, since they were on such clear display before her. No, she told herself, she was still mad at him for his behavior the night before. His charms and sexual attraction wouldn't get him out of this one.

"Why don't you come up?" he asked her with a wink. She huffed.

"Reno," she said sternly, indicating she was not messing around.

"Okay, okay," Reno replied, the smirk briefly leaving his lips. "Just one thing, though."

Tifa didn't even have time to look confused before Reno reached out and grabbed her shoulders to pull her into a kiss. It was unlike anything she had experienced, given he was upside down. It was a little awkward, but she allowed his wanting tongue to enter her mouth for just a moment before she pulled back.

"Kissing while upside down? Seems pretty cliché," she teased.

"Hey, unlike you, I've never been to outer space and I've always wondered what it would be like to bang without gravity," Reno let his arms hang toward the floor as he swung gently, his shirt falling up to his chin and fully exposing his torso.

"Well, I may have gone into space, but I did not 'bang' while I was up there," Tifa countered, providing air quotes for emphasis.

Reno grinned again. At least now he knew Strife hadn't gotten to experience Tifa outside of the planet's orbit. "Ah, you missed out, then," he said.

"What happened here?" she asked, bringing a finger to the barely noticeable damaged spike of hair from earlier. _Damn, she was perceptive_. She was clearly changing the subject, but he was surprised she had noticed – and that he hadn't pointed it out already. He had hoped being upside down would make it somehow less noticeable.

"Cigarette mishap," he admitted with innocent eyes that darted around the room. Tifa snickered.

Before she said another word, he tightened his core and crunched up to grab the guard rail with his hands, placing them on either side of his knees. He then pushed his knees forward off the railing and let go to flip before landing on his feet with his back to Tifa. It reminded the bartender of her school days in Nibelheim, when she and her friends used to flip off the monkey bars in the same manner.

"Okay, let me have it," he said to her once he turned around. "I'm a jackass – and an idiot. I lost control and attacked Strife when I'm not some hotheaded teenager anymore. I'm a hotheaded _man_."

"What were you thinking?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips again and scowling.

"I was thinking…" Reno thought for a moment, "… I wasn't thinking."

He thought he was about to tell her that he had been thinking at the time what it would be like to lose her and that he saw Strife as the one taking her away. He didn't want that. He reacted the same way he would have if a monster had her pinned and was about to slash her. He knew the situations weren't similar, but his reactions to them would be.

"Don't let it happen again," Tifa said in a scolding tone and raising her index finger between them.

"I won't," he said through a devilish grin.

He was sincere, but he couldn't let it show. And besides, if chocobo head attacked _him_ he'd defend himself, though he doubted the situation would come up again.

Tifa narrowed her eyes to give him a probing look before turning to sashay back behind the stage to continue her own work. Reno watched her walk away with a goofy grin on his face.

"Hey, you just standin' around now?" another worker called to him from across the auditorium.

Reno acknowledged the man and climbed back up the scaffolding to fiddle with a spotlight.

_Meanwhile…_

… _A sealed up secret… wish… Tender memories… no one can ever know…_

Cloud remembered thinking those words after he woke up from what he would later learn was a mako-induced coma. The first person he saw was the only person he wanted to see: Tifa. She looked a little sick, like how Zack looked in the early days of Hojo's experiments after receiving one of the professor's shots. But Tifa's smiling face had never looked more beautiful than at that very moment.

He didn't remember falling into the Lifestream. The last thing he had remembered was being at the Northern Crater. Tifa and everyone else was there. He gave Nanaki the Black Materia and then… nothing. The next thing he saw was Tifa smiling at him, with palm trees around them and the smell of swamp and mako.

He figured everything in between – talking with Tifa and figuring out that he had never been a SOLDIER, that Zack went to Nibelheim five years earlier and Cloud was just a grunt, admitting to Tifa he joined SOLDIER to impress her – must have been a coma dream.

When they were back on the Highwind and Cloud explained everything to AVALANCHE, Tifa said: "You're sure messed up, Cloud!" He knew she was joking, but she had never made a joke like that to him, and it made him think she hadn't actually been there in his mind helping him discover who he really was. He had wanted to tell her the part about having a childhood crush on her, but with everyone present he lost his nerve.

It wasn't until they were alone underneath the Highwind and she mentioned the Lifestream that he realized it had been real.

And now he was losing her.

Cloud was sitting at the desk in his hotel room, writing down his thoughts on the notepad that came with the room. He wasn't someone who journaled his thoughts or kept a diary, but since he couldn't talk to Tifa about what was going on with her, and he didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone else, he decided to just write down what he was thinking so that it wouldn't eat at him and send him into an angsty spiral like before.

Yesterday had gone so well, he thought, until that damned Turk screwed things up in the alley. He wanted to recreate the good parts of the day, so when he was finished writing (and tearing up the pages, running them under water, mashing them into a ball, and throwing them away), he left his hotel room, returning to the man who had given him Fenrir years earlier.

Luck must have been on Cloud's side that day, because the man appeared to be finishing up another souped-up work of art and machinery. It was not black and gold like Fenrir, but instead red and silver with black trim. He took one look at the red metal and thought of Tifa's damaged truck. Candy apple red. Just like the Shinra Hauler SA-40 he bought for Tifa. Cloud loved the bike before he even approached the man, who was squatting down on the other side of it tinkering with the gears.

The blond warrior let out an elongated whistle of approval and desire, startling the mechanic. The man, who was wearing grease-stained coveralls and who had messy dark hair, stood up, wiping his hands with a rag.

"Oh, Cloud!" the man said. "It's good to see you again. Hadn't seen ya in Seventh Heaven for a while, had gotten worried. Tifa just said you were out of town gettin' supplies."

_Good ol' Tifa. She never let her customers see her pain_.

"I got back pretty recently, but…" Cloud trailed off. How could he tell this man that his beautiful creation had been destroyed? How could Cloud ask for another after destroying the last?

"Where's Fenrir?"

Cloud scratched the back of his head. "About that…"

"I see," the man replied, crossing his arms. "Well, I'm sure if you brought her to me I could get 'er fixed up for ya."

Cloud looked at his feet. "I don't think even you could undo an explosion."

"Oh, damn. At least you survived, right?"

Cloud let out a breath of air. "Heh, I guess."

"You see my newest creation?" the man said, motioning with his left arm back toward the new bike. It looked similar to Fenrir in size, with minor changes to the exhaust pipes in the back and the detailing. "I call this one Skoll."

"Beautiful," Cloud said, just now realizing how much he missed having so much power between his legs.

"I know that look. Sorry to tell ya, I already got free service for life at Seventh Heaven for Fenrir."

"How about gil?"

The man seemed to think for a moment. "I don't know," he said with a finger stroking his chin. "I'd have to spend the next couple years building _another_ bike, and these materials ain't cheap."

"200,000 gil."

"300,000."

"250."

"Done," the man stepped forward to shake Cloud's hand. "You're in luck, I just installed the weapon compartments. There's also a back seat on this one, in case you've decided not to go it alone this time."

Cloud looked back at the bike. He saw himself riding it, just as he had driven Fenrir, before Tifa appeared on the back seat, straddling the machine with her arms wrapped tightly around Cloud's waist and her chest pressed against his back. He got excited just imagining her skirt hiked up as she sat behind him, the vibration of the motor making her wet before they'd return to Seventh Heaven and fuck.

"I have," Cloud said, smiling. He reached into his back pocket to retrieve a large stack of gil to hand to the mechanic.

"That's good to hear," the man said, counting his money. "Try not to destroy this one. One of these days, _I'd_ like to own one of these, ya know?"

"I think my days of danger are over," Cloud said with a laugh.

The mechanic didn't seem to notice, recounting the stack of gil in his hand before handing Cloud the keys. Cloud approached the bike and slowly ran his hands over the smooth, curved metal body. He wanted to savor the moment. Fenrir was gone, and Cloud still missed the bike as if it were a member of the family, but he couldn't help Tifa with supplies just by walking, at least not with bigger orders. Flashes of Fenrir's fiery death crossed his mind – the crash, the wheels shredding his skin, the explosion in the Sleeping Forest. Not again. Skoll would never be in that position, especially not with Tifa as his companion.

Cloud threw his leg over the bike and eased himself onto the seat. It felt cushier than Fenrir, comfortable enough for long trips across continents to visit friends or go on vacation. He inserted the keys and turned on the ignition, feeling the engine roar to life as he twisted a handle. It felt so good to be back on a bike, the vibration of the machine, the sound of the engine, the smell of that raw power. With a nod to the mechanic, he pressed the gas pedal and sped off toward Old Midgar.

_Later…_

Tifa returned to Seventh Heaven a little worn out from the theater. She was happy though, that so much progress had been made on the theater and that it may soon start production on its first show.

Before Tifa even opened her front door, she heard sounds coming from the garage. She knew immediately she was probably not being robbed in broad daylight – no one in Edge was that stupid or desperate – and she assumed it couldn't be Reno since she had just left him at the theater.

She walked through the bar to the garage door and opened it to find Cloud shaping a large scrap of metal. The garage door was open, and she could see what looked like a repainted Fenrir out in the short driveway. She waited until Cloud wasn't operating something dangerous before making her presence known.

He turned around and lifted his safety goggles to look at her. She could tell he was excited to tell her about the new bike but was holding back because of what happened the night before. She leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms, knowing he would say something about his fight with Reno without her asking.

"How's the theater?" he asked, surprising her a little.

"I didn't know you knew about that," Tifa replied, lifting her gaze. Cloud scratched the back of his head briefly.

"Yeah, I know you've been helping build it for a while," he said, his voice sounding almost embarrassed. "I know you probably think I was ignoring you when my headaches got worse, but I actually listened to everything you were saying."

"Really?" Tifa asked, her face brightening slightly as she skeptically considered what he had said. Cloud nodded before his expression dropped.

"Tifa, I… I'm sorry," he said sullenly. "I should have handled last night better. He just got under my skin and I couldn't stand the thought of you being with him."

"I know, Cloud," Tifa said with heavy lids and a frown.

She understood where he was coming from, and she knew he didn't intend to make her feel bad for ever being with Reno, but his words had stung a little. She looked toward the wall away from him with a blank expression on her face until Cloud closed the gap between them, placing his hands on her arms and causing her to look him in the eye.

"Tifa, I told you, I never want to hurt you again," he moved his hands gently up and down her biceps as she continued to stare at him, her face expressionless except for a sadness in her eyes that he could detect easily.

She offered him a weak smile in return. He smiled a little brighter than she did, hoping to get her to offer him a genuine smile. When she didn't, he leaned in to kiss her gently and clasp his hands behind her back. He pulled away just a little, tilting his head forward so that his forehead rested against hers and the tips of their noses touched.

"I know you won't, Cloud," she said, a soft smile spreading across her lips as her eyes sparkled.

They remained like that for a moment before Cloud broke the silence.

"Wanna see my new bike?" Cloud said behind a roguish grin.

Tifa smiled wider, too. She had almost forgotten about the beautiful new bike sitting in their driveway. She nodded her head and their noses rubbed together tenderly. Cloud took her by the wrist and led her out of the garage to his new bike. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she took in the shiny paint job and chrome.

"It's gorgeous!" she said, clasping her hands in front of her chest and skipping over to it. She hovered her hand over the front plate but turned back to look at Cloud to see if it was okay. He nodded, and she caressed the body of the motorbike with her delicate fingers. Cloud stood a few feet back with his arms crossed, just watching her enjoy the bike.

"Wanna go for a ride?" he asked when she turned toward him again to smile in approval. If it was possible, her eyes got even wider with excitement.

"Uh, yes!" she said with a little hop.

Cloud walked over and again mounted the bike. His earlier fantasy was coming true, at least part of it. Tifa swung her leg over the back of the bike and had to jump slightly to get on. Too nervous to cross anymore boundaries, she placed her hands on Cloud's shoulder blades, unaware of the heat rising in his chest and the twitch in his pants. He reached back to find Tifa's arms and pull them around his waist. He could feel her hips pressed against him and knew her skirt must have hiked up, meaning her panties were touching the seat of his pants.

He had to take a deep breath to calm his hormones before slowly pulling the bike out of the driveway and onto the street, turning left so they could go out of the city onto the open roads.

Tifa held onto Cloud tightly around his waist so that her chest was pressed into his back. She leaned her cheek to rest on his upper back, feeling the material of his SOLDIER uniform beneath her skin. She had only been on Fenrir a couple times since there wasn't a real back seat. She had to share the seat with Cloud, and while she certainly didn't mind being so close to him, it was just a tad uncomfortable. The vibration and closeness would cause a bit too much friction and she'd found herself feeling a bit stiff and raw after one of the few rides she was able to take with Cloud.

This new bike was much better in that regard. Now she could enjoy the vibration between her thighs and the sensation of the bike beneath her – not to mention she wasn't being forced to painfully grind against Cloud's pants. It was a more soothing grind, but she worried he could sense what she was going through and get distracted. That wouldn't have been a problem back before he left, but now she had to push those ideas out of her head until she had let either Cloud or Reno go. She only hoped she hadn't gotten so wet that _he_ could feel it.

Cloud opened Skoll up once they were outside of Edge, pushing the bike to its limits as they dashed through the desert and around the city. He could hear Tifa screaming behind him – sometimes out of joy; sometimes out of fear – and he loved it. She had been in so much danger in her life, yet she still managed to get scared when they reached full speed or when he took a corner at a high speed and the bike tilted dangerously.

She watched as the desert and city blurred past her – a sea of coppers and grays. She held onto Cloud tight even when he slowed down to return to the city. They pulled up into the garage next to Seventh Heaven and Tifa dismounted before adjusting her skirt as Cloud swung his leg back over Skoll to stand up next to her. He approached her with that gentle smile he had when he was truly unburdened and happy. It was her favorite smile of his.

"Think you'd wanna drive some day?" he asked. Tifa glanced at the bike and looked just a tad scared.

"Oh, I don't know, it might be too much bike for me," she responded.

"Eh," Cloud said, waving his hand at her dismissively. "You can handle it."

"Ok then, professor, you can start teaching me," she said with a cocky grin.

"I'll try to be as patient with you as you were with me in the slums," Cloud teased.

"Oh? Got some lessons for life on the road?"

"Some. Lesson one: Always make sure you're rested."

Tifa beamed.

"You still remember," she said.

"Like I said, I was listening."

"Good to know," she said with a soft smile. "Want to help me get the bar ready to open?"

"It'd be an honor," Cloud said with a nod while placing his hand over his heart in an exaggerated gesture.

Tifa rolled her eyes while maintaining her grin and motioned for him to follow her inside.

As they were removing the chairs off the tables and flipping them around, Cloud suddenly blurted out: "Cactuars."

"What about them?" Tifa asked as she lifted another upside-down chair from a table and flipped it over to set it down on its legs.

"The answer to your questions," Cloud said as if Tifa had just asked him something. She started thinking she must have asked him something earlier or on the bike that she had completely forgotten about.

"Excuse me?" she asked, having racked her brain to remember what she may have asked. Cloud chuckled as she flustered.

"You asked me months ago what fiend I thought would win in a race and which one I would want as a pet," he said simply. "The answer to both is cactuars."

Tifa closed her eyes and shook her head briefly, genuinely surprised that he remembered things she had said when he seemed to be pulling away.

"You really were listening…" she said, though the words nearly broke her heart all over again. He was listening, he just wasn't responding. She didn't want to ruin the moment, so she decided to let it go. "Why cactuars?"

"Do you remember fighting them on the island?" Cloud asked, nostalgic. "I could barely swipe one of those little bastards. They kept running off or twisting away."

Tifa leaned her head back and laughed.

"Yeah, they were a pain," she replied. "Still, you think they're faster than a bandersnatch or a formula?"

"I do, and I'd be willing to bet gil on one if there was a race," Cloud said confidently.

Tifa walked over to the bar and thought for a moment, bringing a finger to her chin.

"Why would you want one as a pet?" she asked. "I always thought they were cute, but do you _also_ remember what happened after we fought them? You, me, and Yuffie sitting in a circle pulling needles out of each other's backs?"

Cloud looked to the ceiling as he thought back to that night.

"I remember it was the first time your hands were all over my back," he said suggestively.

Tifa laughed.

"… again, as I pulled _needles_ out of your skin like some horrible reverse acupuncture," she said. "And I'm glad it was so pleasant for you. You were helping _Yuffie_ and she was grabbing them out of my back five at a time and quickly. It was _really_ painful."

"If we had one as a pet, I'd pull the needles out of your back," Cloud offered with mocking sincerity.

"Heh, I'm sure you would."

"It's how we work," Cloud continued with a grin. "I protect you and you take care of me. Remember who had the fewest amount of needles on their chest? You're welcome."

It was true, Cloud had always been especially protective of Tifa during their adventures. He often leapt in front of her with his sword to block the needle attacks, resulting in a few more from him and a lot fewer for her.

She smiled fondly at the memory, though she remembered how painful it was to remove the needles.

"Thank you," she chuckled as she walked to the door to flip on the "open" sign.

"So, no blue dress tonight, either?" Cloud asked, only half joking.

Tifa gave him a knowing look and lifted her index finger to the air. Cloud knew what that meant: _Don't push it_. Though she was smiling...

_A little while later…_

Cloud helped Tifa run the bar just like he used to when they lived together. He bussed tables, took orders, delivered drinks, and made sure no one got too rowdy. His hearing had also apparently become more sensitive to lewd remarks being made about Tifa. As soon as he heard a patron making any rude, suggestive comment about her looks, Cloud would simply appear near them, intimidating them into stopping their conversation without them completely being sure he had heard what they said.

Cloud had always hated that part of the job. Tifa was the most gorgeous woman in the world, in his opinion, and he always knew he had to accept that she would be ogled by seedy men, but it didn't mean he liked it. The worst part was that he almost always agreed with the men and would steal a glance at whatever part of Tifa's anatomy the degenerates were discussing. Until recently, only Cloud had been able act on whatever perverted thought popped into his mind regarding Tifa. He was the only one who had _ever_ been able to act on those thoughts.

Now he had to share that distinction with _Reno_.

"Cloud!" Tifa said with astonished concern before he realized that he had just crushed a glass tumbler in his hand while thinking about what Reno had done to her.

He said nothing, just stared at his open palm as blood began seeping from a few glass cuts. Tifa rushed over with a clean towel and a broom with a dustpan. The dutiful caretaker made sure to press the towel to Cloud's palm in order to stop the bleeding before quickly crouching down to sweep up the glass so no customers would get hurt.

After she dumped the shards in the garbage can and put away the broom, she washed her hands and grabbed her first aid kit. Cloud had continued to press his uninjured hand onto the towel as Tifa had demonstrated (she didn't have to, but it came instinctually to her) to clot the blood. The barmaid returned to Cloud and set the kit on the edge of the bar before retrieving a roll of gauze. She cast a low-level cure spell on Cloud to seal the wound, applied some antiseptic, and wrapped his palm gently in the gauze, making sure his fingers weren't restricted.

"Thank you," Cloud said softly.

"What happened?" Tifa asked.

"Just a klutz, I guess," Cloud lied.

He mentally kicked himself for not telling her what he was really thinking about, but knew it was an awful thought that would just start a fight and he didn't want that. Besides, it was something he had to get over. He couldn't change the past – God did he know _that_ – so he just had to get over the fact that another man, a _Turk_, had touched Tifa. He knew most people in the world date others before settling down, but he and Tifa had always been different. Though, he guessed, not so different. The part of him that clung to Zack had developed feelings for Aeris, and he knew that even before their journey to fight Sephiroth that Tifa had suffered at the hands of a few men in the slums. And it wasn't like no woman had ever come on to him before.

Maybe if he thought about it like that, he could put it into perspective. He had no right to decide who she could and could not date – and to be honest he still didn't know _for sure_ what happened between her and Reno, even though his mind raced with possibilities – and had to remember that he had left her. He couldn't expect her to cry her eyes out and wait for him forever.

Tifa smiled at him with just a hint of disbelief in her eyes after his response. He wasn't a klutz, everyone knew that, but she seemed to accept what he said and return to her work.

Cloud watched her move gracefully behind the bar for a few moments. Tomorrow they would travel to Rocket Town for Cid's engagement party, and Cloud hoped the day would remind Tifa about the commitment she had always wanted.

For Tifa, she was more confused than ever. She knew Cloud had lied about why he accidentally broke the glass. She figured he had thought about Reno and hadn't realized he was holding it too tightly. She didn't mind the lie, since she understood why he would tell it.

But every time she saw one of these two men she found herself lost. When she was with Reno she was excited and tingly and a little scared about the future. When she was with him, she didn't want to leave him and thought about choosing him. When she was with Cloud, she felt warm and protected and comfortable, pleasantly lost in the familiar. With Cloud, she had a lifetime of history that made her think how much she _should_ be with him.

She was thankfully awakened from her thoughts by a patron at the bar calling for a refill.

**End notes: I reread this story and found that Cloud wasn't as much fun since he survived Jenova as he had been in previous flashbacks, so I set to rectify that in this chapter. Reno is a joy to write, but Cloud always had a silly, sexy side, too (remember "next to you, who wouldn't"?) I wanted to bring that back.**


	45. Rocket Town

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. I don't own these characters. Square Enix does.**

**I miss the smut. Do you miss the smut? I miss the smut. This was supposed to be a smutty story but it got away from me and turned into an angsty romance. Story of my fiction-writing life.**

Chapter 45:

Tifa wiped down the kitchen counter and dried already-clean glasses while she waited for the coffee to finish. It was a nervous habit she had picked up back in Sector Seven when she was always waiting for Barret and the others to return from a mission – or for Shinra to raid her bar with guns blazing. She thought she got a handle on her habit after the planet was saved and she opened the bar in Edge, but once Cloud started pulling away it returned.

So, she was a little surprised that she was currently practicing the habit, given that Cloud Strife was sitting across from her at the kitchen island with a warm smile plastered on his face. He had arrived a few minutes earlier to meet her before Cid came to pick them up in the Highwind for his own engagement party in Rocket Town.

Tifa knew why she was nervous. In another hour or so she would be face to face with a group of people who all expected her and Cloud to be back together by now. It had been a week since they defeated Jenova again, but Tifa still hadn't made her decision, since both Cloud and Reno were vying for her affections. Some in the group were probably judging her, at the very least, for her tryst with the Turk.

She kept her back to Cloud as she busied herself at the kitchen sink so he wouldn't see her distress. She knew it was silly, since Cloud _always_ knew how she was feeling, no matter how much she thought she hid her emotions. Today, however, he seemed to be either not picking up on her nervousness or letting it go. He was probably nervous about the impending questions as well.

He had been tapping his fingers without saying a word after they exchanged pleasantries and he followed Tifa upstairs to the apartment kitchen. He had to admit it felt good to be in the home again, even if he was just a guest. When he saw Tifa fall into her old habits he knew she must have been thinking the same thing as him: What the rest of AVALANCHE would think of them not being back together. He hoped the engagement party would be distracting enough so he and Tifa could avoid the sympathetic judgment of their friends.

The coffeemaker brought them both out of their thoughts when it beeped.

Tifa walked over to it and reached up to open the cabinet above to retrieve two mugs. She poured a cup and sprinkled in some nutmeg before handing it to Cloud with a smile and an unnecessary warning about its temperature. She turned around to pour her own cup.

"Mmmm," Cloud said as he closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of the beverage beneath his nose. "Your coffee was one of the things I missed most while I was away."

"Oh?" Tifa asked, sashaying up to the island opposite him and bringing her own cup to her lips. "What else did you miss?"

She held the cup in black leather gloved hands that matched the tank top and shorts she was wearing with the duster apron. She had decided to forgo her usual miniskirt outfits today, not wanting to be underdressed for Cid and Shera's engagement party. Of course, even with her midriff showing and form-fitting leather, she was a knockout when she was trying to be more modest. Cloud wore his usual SOLDIER uniform with his Ultima Sword strapped to his back, just in case.

"A lot of things," he purred, though his cheeks tinted pink. "Your cooking, your laugh… you."

Tifa giggled as her face turned red. Cloud was definitely back to his old self. It had taken him a couple days, but she understood. You don't almost die and come out of it immediately with a cheery outlook like nothing happened.

She looked at him coyly, poised to respond, when Cloud's phone rang. They both knew who was on the other line, yet Cloud held up a finger to indicate Tifa should "hold that thought" as he brought the PHS to his ear.

"Hey, Cid," he said when he answered. "Yep, no problem, we'll be right out." He flipped the phone closed and returned it to his pocket. "Cid's here," he told Tifa.

"Ah, okay," she replied. "Let me grab a couple things and we can meet him."

Cloud watched her gather a few bottles from behind the bar downstairs, a little disappointed they didn't get to finish their flirting. Maybe later at the party – or _later_. He didn't recognize some of the bottles Tifa grabbed as they didn't have labels, but he shrugged and offered to carry the bag she had put them in.

"Thanks," she said as they left the bar.

She locked up and they headed for the Highwind, which was hovering just outside of town. No door-to-door pickup when Cid was on a tight schedule and already aggravated that he had to spend the morning of his engagement party flying around the world to grab his own attendees.

The skies over Edge were dark and overcast, signaling an impending storm. Tifa looked up at the gray clouds above them, knowing a downpour was coming. It hadn't rained in the city since… that night she found Reno on her doorstep after her date with Rude. Hopefully this storm wouldn't be so eventful.

Shera had assured her earlier that there were clear skies in Rocket Town and unseasonable warmth for this time of year. Tifa took a sigh of relief to know she'd probably miss the storm since she was staying the night with everyone in Rocket Town. Maybe they'd be stuck there indefinitely until the storm passed.

Other than celebrating her friend's engagement, Tifa was most looking forward to discussing her dilemma with Yuffie. She had wanted to call her younger friend for the past couple days to talk about what was going on with Cloud and Reno, but she had been busy with the bar and the two men. She wasn't sure if Yuffie could be completely unbiased in this situation, but Tifa needed to get her thoughts and apprehensions out into the open. Maybe saying them out loud would help her make a decision.

Cloud saw the first spark of lighting way off into the distance, probably beyond the shores near the chocobo farm, as he climbed the rope ladder up to the Highwind. He quietly praised himself for fixing up the outside of the bar before the storm came. Tifa was ahead of him on the ladder – no skirt to look up today. As quickly as he mentally praised himself for his chivalry, he chastised himself for his lechery. Tifa was more than that to him, he just couldn't help it when he was around her with no outlet for his lust.

He barely had a chance to stand up after climbing over the railing when the airship started to take off. Cid _really_ wanted to get this part over with.

Once everyone was collected (Cait Sith acting as a proxy for Reeve, who was yet again handling rebuilding matters) Cid returned to Rocket Town, practically pushing past everyone to get off the ship and back to his fiancée. No one could be upset with his avoidance behavior; they were actually charmed that the gruff pilot who seemed so angry when they first met him was now racing off to be with the woman he had been so harsh toward previously.

"Tifa, we gotta talk," Barret said, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her aside as the others left the bridge.

Tifa nodded, knowing what it would be about.

"Later, let's wait until we've said hi to Shera and everyone else," she suggested.

Barret agreed. Cloud noticed his two companions whispering behind everyone else and looked at Tifa questioningly, though she didn't seem to notice.

Cid's modest home in Rocket Town had been decorated for the occasion, most likely by Shera. The colors were white and gold, with a glittery banner that said, "We're Engaged!" and various party decorations. Shera looked more stunning than Tifa had ever seen her. Gone was her lab coat and ponytail. She was wearing a sparkly gold and white strapless cocktail dress with a flower pattern on it, and her hair was loose to her shoulders and curled. She wore gold wire-framed glasses with rectangular lenses, which didn't detract from her beauty at all.

Tifa suddenly felt underdressed, but she wasn't the only one. The entire group had worn their regular clothes, not expecting Cid and Shera to throw such a formal party. Neither had informed anyone of a dress code.

"Welcome!" Shera said as they entered the home, offering hugs and accepting congratulations on her engagement. Cid was nowhere to be seen.

"This place looks great!" Yuffie said when it was her turn to intercept Shera.

"We're so glad you could all make it," Shera said once she had said hello to everyone individually.

It was at that moment Cid appeared from out of the bedroom, wearing a black tuxedo with a gold vest and tie. The rest of AVALANCHE gasped, having never seen him dressed in anything but his mechanic gear, and suddenly feeling even _more_ underdressed.

"Um, were we supposed to dress nicer?" Tifa asked uncomfortably, looking down at her own leather fighting outfit.

"Oh, no, no," Shera insisted as Cid joined her, placing his arm around her waist. "We actually decided to surprise you all. We talked about it and realized that neither of us wanted a big ceremony. We only wanted our close friends, so we figured it would be best to have the wedding today."

Tifa felt Marlene's grip on her hand tighten with excitement. The little girl and Elmyra had joined Barret for the trip, and her tiny hand had practically been stuck to Tifa's own as soon as they boarded the ship.

Cloud had hoped to get some time with Tifa during this trip, around friends, away from _Reno_, but things had gotten complicated. He couldn't flirt with Tifa much with Marlene practically joined at her hip, but he supposed this was all still beneficial to him. The wedding, more so than an engagement party, would get Tifa thinking about commitment, and Marlene's presence would remind her of the family she still wanted.

And there Cloud would be, by her side just as all these thoughts swirled in her head.

"That's amazing!" Marlene screeched after Shera's announcement.

"So, we'll have a little engagement party in here, and the ceremony in a little while out back," Shera informed them.

Cloud made sure to lock eyes with Tifa as everyone clapped and cheered for the happy couple, giving her a smile that said, "that will be us some day." Tifa's own lips curled up as her eyelids became heavy.

Marlene was thoroughly attached to Tifa as everyone made their way to the backyard after catching up over drinks inside the house. The bartender chuckled as the little girl insisted they sit together for the ceremony. Cloud stayed close as well, giving Tifa the occasional reprieve from only being able to talk to a child.

A few rows of white folding chairs had been placed in Cid's back yard, with a wooden trellis set up and woven with roses and greenery. Marlene wanted to sit in the front row, and nearly had Tifa sit on the end seat before Cloud squeezed in next to her. Barret joined on the other side of Marlene, with Vincent, Yuffie, and Elmyra behind them. Nanaki and Cait Sith had to sit on the ground next to the chairs due to the difficulty they each would have trying to get into one.

The other seats were occupied by the crew of the Highwind.

Cid exited the house with a man no one knew – the officiant – and walked to the trellis. Within minutes, Shera exited the house and walked past the chairs to join Cid, taking his hands in hers. As the officiant performed the ceremony, Cloud ventured to place his hand on top of Tifa's, which rested on her thigh. She squeezed her fingers around his and they remained like that until Cid and Shera were pronounced man and wife.

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other as the officiant spoke, their eyes focused on the other's, searching. Cloud scanned Tifa's eyes for hints of familiarity and hope, while Tifa smiled at Cloud as her own mind worried about the decision she had to make. Being here, in his environment, with Cloud, certainly elevated him in her book, but as always, it was because she was with him in this moment. Although, she did wonder if marriage and family were even in Reno's vocabulary.

The pair remained seated when everyone else stood up to follow the newlyweds back into the house, their eyes still locked on each other. It was Marlene who interrupted, tugging at Tifa's arm to let her know it was time to head back inside.

Tifa laughed and returned to "parent mode," scooping Marlene up onto her hip as she stood up and joined the rest of AVALANCHE. Cloud hung back a moment to watch her walk away, imagining her in a wedding dress before focusing on the way her hips moved when she walked. He watched as she stuck out her hip to balance Marlene while pulling her PHS out of her opposite pocket, smirking at the screen, typing something using only her thumb, and flipping the device closed to return it to her pocket.

Cloud sat back in his chair and looked up at the clear blue sky, closing his eyes and letting the sun warm his cheeks. He was making progress, for sure, but he hadn't succeeded yet – and he didn't know how he was comparing to Reno.

Back inside, Barret was leading a toast to the new couple as everyone lifted their glass of champagne. Cloud entered as everyone was about to take a sip, quickly finding a glass and joining Tifa where she stood just as she quickly flipped her phone shut to return it to her pocket once again. He couldn't keep worrying about Reno. All he could do was focus on his own actions.

_Later…_

"Yo, Teef!" Barret called as he motioned for Tifa to join him in the corner of the living room.

Discreet as always.

Tifa had been catching up with Vincent and Cait Sith when Barret called her name, setting her heart aflame for that brief moment when she first heard the word "yo." She excused herself from the conversation and convinced Marlene to talk to Yuffie before striding over to Barret.

"What's up?" she asked, playing dumb.

"I got a meeting with the Shinra tomorrow about my oil fields," Barret said, his voice low but not exactly whispering. "I heard they're sending your Turk along for intimidation."

Tifa cringed when Barret called him _her_ Turk. Was it a dig at her expense? Or was he hoping she could help him out with Reno?

"He's not _my_ Turk," she scolded, bringing her hand to the side of her mouth to whisper even though no one else seemed to be paying attention.

"Well, do you know anything about this?" Barret shot back.

Tifa didn't want to be in this position. She wished Reno hadn't told her about Shinra's new venture into oil or why the Turks were involved. Now she had to find a way to answer that wouldn't get either of them killed. If only this had happened two years ago, then she'd have no issue giving up Reno's information.

"All I know is that the Turks are there to make sure the land is sold," Tifa said, putting her hands up defensively.

"I ain't sellin' my land to Shinra, and neither is anyone else in Corel," Barret growled, as if Tifa were the one threatening him.

"I know, Barret," she said, trying to calm him as he balled his good hand into a fist so tight it shook. "But be careful, okay?"

"You really hooked up with that Turk?"

"Barret…"

"Is that it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I seen the way he looked at you in Costa and the Crater," the large man huffed as Tifa just stared at him with wide eyes. "I use ta have that look when Myrna was alive. Dyne had that look when Eleanor was alive. Cid has that look now." He pointed to Cid who was dancing to a slow song with Shera in the middle of their living room.

"What do you mean?"

"I ain't helpin' no Turk!" Barret barked, almost loud enough for others to hear. "Cloud has that look and then some. Always has – around you."

Tifa turned to look over her shoulder at Cloud, who had been wrangled into dancing with Marlene. The little girl was standing on his boots with her arms wrapped around his waist. He glanced over at Tifa and half rolled his eyes to show he was embarrassed but wasn't going to deny Marlene. Tifa smiled and blushed.

"Barret…" Tifa trailed off a moment, looking toward the floor with a distant expression on her face. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but please don't get hurt."

"Shit, you know me."

"Exactly."

Barret frowned at her. Thankfully, the song had finished and Cloud had managed to free himself from Marlene for the moment to walk over to Tifa and Barret.

"Mind if I borrow her?" he asked Barret, motioning to Tifa.

The man with the gun arm nodded. Cloud offered Tifa his elbow and led her back into the living room for another slow song. He held her hand and placed his other on the small of her back, holding her close as they swayed with the music.

Damn, it felt good to hold her like this again. He had his arms around her briefly yesterday in the garage, and she had held him tightly on his new motorbike, but he hadn't truly had her in his embrace since the Gold Saucer, and even then it was too brief.

He rested his cheek atop her head as she leaned her head against his chest. He closed his eyes for a moment, not noticing other members of AVALANCHE were pointing and smiling at them as if this were proof they were back together. He could feel her body heat against his own as he pressed her against himself as tightly as he could without hurting her.

The world seemed to fall away into a haze of purple and pink as they "danced," neither seeming to notice anyone else was in the room anymore. The slow song about love and redemption were the only words that needed to be said in the minutes that they stood together, no longer even swaying, just holding each other and experiencing each other's scent and presence.

This was Cid and Shera's moment, but Cloud and Tifa had become lost in their own. Tifa thought back to that night in Aeris' garden and how even though Cloud was hurting her, she didn't want him to let her go. She lasted as long as she could until part of his wrist bangle caused her spine to spasm.

And here they were again. So close, yet so far. A clichéd couple.

Except this time, Cloud wasn't the peak of the triangle, Tifa was, and she wasn't as oblivious as Cloud had been all those years ago. Cloud struggled with his feelings but thought he was the end of the struggle; it took him a long time to realize Aeris and Tifa were flirting with him the whole time.

Tifa was intimately aware, and Cloud could see the toll it was taking on her. He'd catch glimpses of her stress when they were on the road way back when, and he was noticing them occasionally now as well.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back gently when the song ended. They both noticed they were the only two dancing and that everyone else seemed to be watching them. They blushed.

_Later…_

Cloud had a beer in his hand and was sitting alone on the back step of Cid's house as the sun rapidly set, leaving the backyard cloaked in dark blues and purples. The pilot had made a quick trip to drop Barret off in North Corel so he could prepare for his meeting with Shinra tomorrow, and Tifa had been dragged away by Yuffie at some point after her dance with Cloud.

He wasn't sulking like he used to, he just didn't want to cling to Tifa the whole day. He was giving her a little space, a chance to miss him, and thinking back over the day so far and how close she felt even though she was still just out of his reach.

He had just taken another swig when he heard the back door open and was washed in light from inside. He rested his forearms on his knees and let his beer bottle dangle between his legs as he heard heavy footsteps approach him.

"Don't tell me ya gone back to sulkin'," Cid asked as he sat next to Cloud on the step.

"Not sulkin', just thinkin'," Cloud responded. Cid wasn't exactly the person he hoped would exit the house, though he knew he had to stop being selfish and focusing on his own problems when this was Cid and Shera's day.

"I take it you ain't back together yet?" Cid asked.

Cloud didn't respond, which gave Cid his answer.

"A little advice?" Cid asked.

Cloud nodded, knowing there was no point in objecting.

"Stop thinking so much," Cid offered. His vest was unbuttoned, his tie undone, and he was no longer wearing his tuxedo jacket. "Me and Shera happened when I finally stopped thinking so much about myself and my own problems."

Cloud said nothing, continuing to stare out into the darkening backyard and taking another swig of his beer.

"You can still fix this," Cid said, lighting up a cigarette. He took a puff and squinted his eyes when he exhaled. "Nothing worth it is ever easy."

"How _did_ you turn it around with Shera?" Cloud finally asked.

"Turn what around? There was nothing to turn around," Cid said, almost proudly. "Me and Shera work together because me and Shera _work_. Together."

Cloud turned his head slightly to look at the pilot, puzzled.

"Shera never spent her life dreamin' of a husband and family," Cid explained. "All she cared about was research and science. Same as me. She would have been fine being my roommate and researchin' her whole life – hell, she was willin' to _die_ to get that rocket into space when we were a bit younger."

"So, why propose then?" Cloud asked.

"Cuz it was me," he told a confused Cloud. "_I_ was the one who wanted more. It's honestly why I was so rough on her back when – tryna keep my distance. I was like a little kid who pulled pigtails."

"You had to convince her?"

"Shit, yeah," Cid said, scratching the back of his head. "I knew she was the one. She knew it, too, I think. But something was holding us back. I had to figure out what it was and fix it, like the damn Highwind."

Cloud stared blankly at him.

"It was me. Once I stopped bein' a jackass, everything changed," Cid admitted.

Cloud let out a low "hmm" before looking out across the backyard.

"Somethin's holding her back from being with you, and I _bet_ you know what it is," Cid said with a hiccup, pointing to Cloud for emphasis.

"Reno," Cloud practically hissed the name out into the air.

"No, it ain't him," Cid said. "Somethin's holdin' her back from him, too. She's not the type of girl to be dragging two guys. She's probably scared and confused by all the attention." Cid then threw his head back and laughed. "Shit, she didn't know what to do when it was just you," he said.

Cloud's nostrils flared as he wondered whether Cid was referring to Tifa's attraction to the blond swordsman in general – or their night under the Highwind when everyone was watching.

"It's something that she wants – needs – from you that you haven't given her. Figure out what that is and boom! Back together," Cid continued.

"Somehow I don't think it's that easy," Cloud huffed, lowering his chin onto his forearms, which were now crossed over his knees.

_Inside…_

"I have been _dying_ for updates!" Yuffie exclaimed as soon as she dragged Tifa into Cid and Shera's bedroom, closing the door behind her and jumping to sit on the bed. She spilled a little of her drink as she did so.

"There's really nothing, Yuffie," Tifa replied with a heavy sigh. "Reno is great when I'm with him. Cloud is great when I'm with _him_. They fought the other day, and they've both apologized."

"These dates, you're not gonna give me details?"

Tifa plopped down on the bed and fell backwards with her arms over her head.

"This is Cid and Shera's _wedding_, I don't want to hijack their special day with my crap," she said.

"Oh, everyone's in their own little world now, you're okay," Yuffie insisted. "So _neither_ of them is ahead right now?"

Tifa rolled onto her side, facing away from Yuffie. "No, they're both trying really hard."

"You have to have _some_ idea!"

Tifa pulled her knees up so she was in the fetal position and wrapped her arms around her legs. "When I'm with Cloud, I want to be with him. When I'm with Reno, I want to be with him," she said into her knees.

"If it were _me_," Yuffie said, placing her free hand on her chest. "I'd just have fun with both, but then I've never had two of the hottest guys on Gaia after me."

"Yuffie…" Tifa hugged her legs a little tighter.

"I know, I know," the young ninja said. She leaned back on her free hand and took another sip of her cocktail. "Have you thought about making a pros and cons list for each of them?"

Tifa shot her friend a quick glare. "They aren't some business decision where I can weigh benefits and costs," she said.

"Fine, _I'll_ do it for you. Be right back," Yuffie said as she stood up and left the room.

Tifa couldn't even imagine boiling Cloud and Reno down to a list of tangible qualities. They were both good and bad in different ways, and such a list seemed beneath them.

Yuffie returned shortly with a yellow legal pad she found in Cid's office. She sat on the edge of the bed and balanced the notepad on her legs before drawing an elongated "t" on the page, with Cloud's name at the top.

"Okay, Cloud first," she said, tapping the pen on her jaw and looking up at the wall. Tifa just let out a disagreeable moan, not wanting to participate.

"Pros: He's hot. He's always protecting you. He has a big sword."

"Yuffie!" Tifa flipped over and tossed a pillow at her friend. Yuffie lifted her arm to swat it away, spilling more of her drink.

"Hey! You're getting alcohol all over Cid's bed!" she admonished before looking at the legal pad again. "Okay, Cons: He's moody. He abandoned you."

"Yuffie…" Tifa trailed off as she sat up beside the ninja.

"Am I missing anything?" Yuffie asked.

"Tons, but I'm not participating in this – and make sure you destroy that document before anyone else finds it."

"Well, then I'll just have to move on to Reno," Yuffie said, loudly flipping the page over to make a point. "Let's see… pros: He's hot. He's been there when you needed him. He has a _bigger_ sword," she added, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

She then dodged another pillow.

"Geez, woman, let me work!" the younger girl demanded in jest. "Cons: Destroyed Sector Seven and killed all your old friends. Probably has some disease from sleeping with so many women."

"Yuffie! Seriously, stop!" Tifa yelled before hanging her head. "He's not… diseased."

"You sound pretty sure of that," Yuffie teased. "Something I miss?"

"You didn't add that they've both grown up so much and that I can barely breathe when I'm around either of them."

Yuffie eagerly added the new notes to both pages. Tifa rubbed the bridge of her nose in agitation. Yuffie tapped the pen on Cloud's page before flipping between both sheets of paper.

"Those are some pretty big cons…" she mentioned. Writing them down was starker than she thought.

"I know!" Tifa fell back onto the bed again. "Maybe I should let them both go…"

Before Yuffie could answer, there was a knock on the door and Shera entered. Both girls sat up properly on the bed and smiled.

"Everything okay in here?" Shera asked, eyeing the pillows on the floor.

"Yes, we're sorry, we'll clean up," Tifa said quickly before Yuffie cut in.

"Tifa can't decide between two guys."

"Yuffie!" Tifa glared at her friend again. "I'm sorry, this isn't the right time. This is _your_ day."

Shera closed the door behind her and walked up to Yuffie, looking down at the yellow legal pad.

"A pros and cons list?" she asked, taking the note pad from Yuffie's lap and reading both pages. "Oh, this is no good."

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.

"You can't boil love down to numbers and charts, believe me," Shera responded. "I know this will sound cliché, but you have to do what your heart tells you. My whole life I was focused on the science. And all along, love was right in front of me. I just had to listen to my heart."

"Aww…" Yuffie cooed.

If someone other than Shera had just spoken those words at that exact moment, Tifa would have rolled her eyes so hard her retinas would have detached.

"Oh, Shera! I brought a surprise with me," the brunette beauty said to change the subject. She may be lost in her own thoughts of love, but she didn't want everyone else to be focused on her problems as well.

"A surprise?" Shera and Yuffie asked in unison.

Tifa laughed and stood up to walk out of the room, with the other women following behind her. She walked over to the couch where the bag she brought with her still sat, and carried it into the kitchen. She removed the bottles and barware she had brought and placed them on the kitchen counter.

"Can I get some glasses?" she asked Shera, who nodded.

"Take what you need," the older woman said, watching to see what Tifa's "surprise" was.

Tifa rifled through the cabinets to find as many tumblers as she could. She set them in a line on the dining room table, gaining the attention of some members of AVALANCHE and the Highwind's crew who were standing nearby. As Tifa set up, the other partygoers slowly began to crowd around the table to figure out what she was doing.

Tifa grabbed a bottle of sparkly blue liquid and poured it into each of the tumblers on the table. She then grabbed a spoon to pour a little rum 151 on top of the drinks, moving down the line skillfully without spilling any alcohol. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her handheld cooking blowtorch to easily light each glass on fire without breaking the flame or her stroke.

Some "oohs" and "ahhhs" could be heard from the group standing around her and the table.

"You guys ready?" she asked in typical bartender fashion.

Cloud had made his way to the front of the crowd, always attuned to whenever the attention was on Tifa. He nodded along with those around him and crossed his arms over his chest with stoic anticipation. Tifa winked at him.

She next picked up a bottle of yellowish liquid and expertly poured it into the glasses, just as she had done with the rum 151. Amazement washed over the crowd as they watched the drinks change from blue to purple. Cloud's eyes sparkled in the flames with a kind of proud expression on his face.

Whoops and cheers erupted from the crowd when Tifa flicked cinnamon at the flames to make them spark. She had perfected the Phoenix Flame during her rare moments alone in the bar and had been excited to show all her friends while performing a spectacle for Cid and Shera, who were given priority to take the first two glasses.

After they were served it was a mad dash to grab what remained. Cloud, Barret, and Yuffie each managed to take a glass, and the rest were snatched by the Highwind's crew. Elmyra had been taking care of Marlene during the show, as the little girl loved to watch Tifa make drinks. Elmyra pulled Marlene from the crowd before everyone lunged for the glasses, gently pulling the girl back by her small shoulders.

"This is A-MAZE-ING" Yuffie hollered after she blew out the flame and took a sip. "When'd you learn how to make this?"

Tifa smiled and tilted her head. "I actually recreated it from a recipe at a bar in Edge," the bartender offered.

"Teef, this is great," Cloud said before holding his glass up toward her. "Beautiful, too."

Okay, this time Tifa _knew_ he was looking at her when he said it, as he gave her a sly little grin and a wink.

"Can't be seen drinkin' this girlie shit, but it's delicious," Barret added.

"Thank you all," Tifa said as people started to spread out again to enter their own conversations. She remained near the kitchen to make the drink for anyone who didn't get one or wanted a second.

_Meanwhile…_

"What are you going to do?" Rude asked Reno.

The bald Turk was leaning back in his desk chair, his hands behind his head and his ankle resting on his opposite knee. His back was to the window, not wanting to see the world outside that had plunged into darkness.

The Turks were cooped up in their office in the new Shinra headquarters, none wanting to travel home in the raging storm outside. It was mid-afternoon, yet it looked like the dead of night outside; a murky blackness constantly interrupted by flashes of lightning that must be striking all over the city. From their vantage point, much of the sky looked brown as the city lights reflected off the storm clouds. Inside their well-lit office, they could drink and remain dry and only notice the storm when the thunder clapped or when a particularly strong gust of wind caused the rain to rap louder on the windows. It was already coming down in a loud, steady beat, but there were several occasions when the wind would combine with the rain and the thunder to make them think their office windows just might break.

"My _job_," Reno seethed in answer to Rude's question, without looking up from his phone.

He didn't want to be in the office. The last time it rained like this…

"_I could watch you laugh while topless all day. Oh, don't be shy now."_

"_Reno…"_

"_I hear that in my head nonstop, yo. Reeee-no…"_

His thumb had been hovering over an open text screen as he considered sending her a message. The way she said his name _still_ rang in his head whenever it was quiet. It was the first thing he heard when he woke up – after the alarm or his phone actually woke him up – and would pop into his head whenever he'd walk somewhere, even a short distance. Suddenly, there it was. Her sweet voice in his head calling his name.

He couldn't even think of something flirtatious to send her at the moment, as his mind was occupied with worry about what would happen with Barret tomorrow and his own struggle with feelings. But he _wanted_ to hear from her, even if it was just a text.

"Some storm, huh?" he typed lamely.

He sent the message and continued to stare at his PHS waiting for her response. A few seconds later, he got his reward.

"Wouldn't know, it's gorgeous where I am," she wrote back.

He hadn't realized she would be out of town today. Must be in Rocket Town at Cid's engagement party – with _Cloud_. He couldn't let a boring comment about the weather be the only thing he sent her today.

"Remember the last time we were caught in the rain? :D," he texted back.

"She's gonna be pissed," he heard Rude say, snapping him out of his pleasant reminiscing and breaking open the proverbial floodgates.

Why couldn't this meeting take place two years ago? Back then, Reno had been fairly content to just imagine Tifa dancing around naked in his mind. He would have had no trouble taking out that big oaf back then. Back before he knew what it was like to hold her, kiss her, fuck her. Back before she tangled herself in his head and in his heart like some kind of parasitic tree.

Reno had already played every possible scenario for the meeting over in his head a thousand times. There was no way Barret would just accept Shinra's offer to buy his oil fields. And then Reno would have to get tough. And then Barret would flip out. And then Reno would have to do something bad. And then he'd lose Tifa. If he decided to take that meeting as a chance to defect – something he didn't want to do – then he'd be at the mercy of Shinra. He'd have to take his getaway bag and change his identity and disappear, always looking over his shoulder waiting to be killed. He'd lose Tifa that way, too. No, the only way this meeting could work out in his favor was if Barret simply accepted the deal, which was never going to happen.

Now Reno was quite literally about to face down the barrel of a gun – the one attached to Barret's arm – and the man held Reno's future with Tifa in the palm of his good hand.

"I KNOW! FUCK!" Reno yelled, kicking his desk hard enough to dent one of the legs.

"Reno!" Tseng called from inside his office. "I recall you just lost a substantial amount of gil recently. Do you want to buy a new desk as well?"

"Goddammit!" Reno shouted to no one in particular. He leaned back hard against his chair and sighed heavily, running a hand through his tresses. His goggles became dislodged as he did so, forcing him to reposition them atop his forehead before closing his eyes to compose himself. "This is a fucking mess," he said in Rude's direction. "Is Rufus torturing me? I mean, why else send me?"

Rude let out an amused grunt and swiveled his chair to face Reno.

"You're second in command, and Barret's a big fish, not to mention his history with Shinra," the bald Turk explained. He then leaned forward on his elbows to lower his sunglasses down his nose, peering above them pointedly at his partner while his left eyebrow twitched upward. "And you used to be the most ruthless… though Rufus does seem to have a particular disdain for you."

Rufus was never the biggest fan of the Turks, but he always seemed to have it out for Reno in particular. The redhead was convinced the tension had gotten worse since Rufus heard the bugs in Tifa's apartment.

For a brief moment Reno entertained the thought that Rufus wasn't just grossed out having to listen to his subordinate bring an adversarial woman to orgasm. Rufus had always seemed asexual to Reno – more obsessed with power and money than women. Reno had figured Rufus wasn't interested in women because it would be difficult to find one who didn't only like him for his money and power. Or maybe he was gay. _Maybe that's why he was so mean to Reno in particular?_

Nah, Reno had a sixth sense for these things. He found it more likely that Rufus had a crush on Tifa that he never acted on – _could_ never act on – that made him hate Reno so much more since the bugging incident. But that couldn't be true, could it? Rufus had never shown an interest in Tifa or anyone else as far as Reno knew, and he had planned to kill her first when he decided to execute members of AVALANCHE.

Reno shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. Sure, he'd rather think about almost _anything_ else other than Tifa right now, but the sexuality of his boss' boss fell outside of the "almost" category.

His phone buzzed. It was Tifa, his saving grace.

"That reminds me. You owe me a new dress," she had texted.

Oh, she remembered that night. An impish grin crossed Reno's lips. The first night he was able to see and play with her tits. The first night she actually stopped him from moving things forward. The first night she burrowed into his brain and refused to leave.

"He could have sent you," Reno said to Rude.

"But I'm teaming up with Freyra in Mideel for the next meeting," Rude said with just a hint of a smirk. "I don't think Rufus wanted to deal with sending you into _that_."

"Hey, Shotgun and me are cool now, yo."

Rude eyed him suspiciously from behind his sunglasses.

Reno stood up with a groan and strolled into Tseng's office, knocking on the open door even though the boss knew he was there.

"Boss?" Reno asked when Tseng looked up from his paperwork.

"Yes?"

Reno shoved his hands in his pocket and entered Tseng's office in his usual hangdog manner.

"How'd your meeting go in Gongaga?"

Tseng narrowed his eyes at his subordinate, knowing immediately what this was about. Reno had always been transparent, but he had become even more so in the past couple months.

"We closed the deal," he said matter-of-factly.

"Did you get any resistance?"

"Some, but I _handled_ it, as you will tomorrow."

Reno rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight onto one leg, sticking his hip out slightly. If he pressed Tseng any further, it would look like he had forgotten how to do his job. "Handled it," could mean any number of things, but it probably meant Tseng threatened someone or worse.

Reno didn't want to be in this position. If Barret refused to sell, Reno'd have to put on the pressure, and that meant threatening the people in Barret's life, particularly his daughter. And what if Barret threw Reno's relationship in the Turk's face during the meeting? Reno was there to assist the lawyers and negotiators in a tense situation. If _they_ lost respect for him, seeing him as some hopeless romantic instead of the ruthless Turk he was, he'd be up shit's creek.

"Reno, trust me," Tseng said, his voice softening just a bit into an almost fatherly tone. "Just do your job and it'll all work out."

Work out for who? For Shinra? For Reno? There was no way everyone walked away happy in this situation.

**End notes: Don't be getting used to such quick updates again. This may have been a fluke. Maybe not, though, since I already have so much of the next few chapters ready to go.**


	46. A Rose Beneath The Lightning

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

**Oh man, this is really it, the beginning of the end. Things are about to get really sad for those who have favored one man over the other. I've depressed myself just thinking about how this all ends, even though I love Cloud and Reno.**

**Jessie's line was taken from Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which I don't own (the rights to, that is, I definitely bought that game).**

Chapter 46:

Tifa had managed to avoid Cloud and Reno for the most part over the past week after she returned from Rocket Town. Cid flew everyone home the morning after the wedding, landing outside Edge as the storm had dissipated into typical rainfall.

Cloud had walked with her back to Seventh Heaven that day, well, ran was more like it, since it was raining. He paused outside the front door, underneath the overhang, clearly wanting to say something to her but failing to find the words. He fell back on simply breathing her name to comfort himself.

"Tifa…" he said.

Saying her name, even if she didn't respond, even if he didn't know what else to say, reminded him that she was real, even if she was standing right in front of him. He couldn't explain it, but somehow saying her name helped stabilize him, cementing their history together. It _happened_, as long as he could still say her name.

She turned her back to the outside of Seventh Heaven's front door and tilted her head slightly to gaze at him with questioning eyes.

He knew what he _wanted_ to say to her, but he had to wait. He scratched the back of his head while averting his eyes from her beautiful face for speaking again.

"Do you… want some help at the bar tomorrow?" he asked, preparing to beat himself up later for continuing to hide his feelings from her. He was drowning in his fear of rejection, grasping at the shore with dumb questions like he'd just asked. Eventually he'd either be swept out with the tide or climb ashore by admitting his feelings.

It was Tifa's turn to look away. She shifted to look down at her feet, hugging her arms around her stomach and nervously digging her toe into the wooden porch of the bar.

"Actually, Cloud," she began, as the blond's heart dropped in his chest. "I think I need to take a few days – or weeks – and be alone to figure out what I want."

It wasn't the _worst_ thing she could have said in that moment, but it didn't mean Cloud was happy to hear it. Tifa looked so sad as she spoke, clearly tormenting herself with her own words, but now Cloud felt he couldn't reach out to comfort her. Had he done something wrong at the wedding to push her away? She looked up at him with glistening eyes that darted back and forth between his own eyes, unable to settle on either.

"When I'm with you," Tifa pushed air out of her mouth and rolled her eyes back with a slight shake of her head as she fought back tears, "I think, 'all I want is to be with you…'" She trailed off, not wanting to say the words Cloud knew she was thinking. He said them for her.

"And when you're with him, you feel the same…"

She looked up at him, tears threatening to escape the corners of her eyes down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," she said, sounding just as she had the night she told Cloud and Reno she wasn't worth their love.

Cloud reached out to wrap his arms around her, saying "fuck it" to his earlier apprehension. She was being honest with him, and though it hurt, he wasn't going to ignore an opportunity to be there for her. He had, at one point in his life, gone through something so similar. When the part of him that had taken on Zack's personality loved Aeris, he could have had this same conversation with Tifa. Hell, he _thought_ about having this conversation with Aeris, figuring the Cetra would be able to handle it better than Tifa. Aeris had this way of not letting anything get to her, but Tifa… Tifa carried the weight of the world on her shoulders even as she stood strong for her companions. Cloud loved that about her.

What would he have wanted Aeris to say if he told her he had feelings for both her and Tifa?

He didn't say anything once he had Tifa in his arms, just held her close with one arm on her lower back and the other stroking her hair over her shoulder blades. He shushed her softly as she cried into his chest. How many times had they stood like this since back in Aeris' garden? How many times had _he_ been the reason she cried?

He didn't want to make her cry anymore – hadn't wanted to see her cry especially since he had come back. Cid had told Cloud he needed to figure out what was holding Tifa back from loving him, and he thought he knew what it was. Maybe it was a good thing she wanted some space; it gave him time to prepare.

He released her and pulled back to stand with his hands on her shoulders, lowering his head to meet her gaze as she sniffled. Once again, they were in their own little world as the city beyond the bar's overhang seemed nothing more than rain and gray.

"Take all the time you need," he said, even as the words pained him to say.

He was hopelessly devoted to this woman, always had been. He knew that whether she took weeks to pick him or let him go, he wouldn't want anyone else. He couldn't imagine a woman who could possibly mean more to him than Tifa Lockhart. If he had to spend a few days away from her for her to choose him, he could handle it.

"Really?" she sniffled again, her face lifting ever so slightly.

She didn't want to go a day without seeing Cloud or Reno, but she knew she'd never be able to make a decision by continuing the way things were. She needed to get away, clear her head, begrudgingly consider Yuffie's pros and cons lists and Shera's advice. She needed to know who she thought about most when she was alone. Even then, she didn't see how she could choose. When Cloud wasn't around but Reno was, they both tormented her thoughts daily. She couldn't imagine that changing if she temporarily cut off contact with both of them.

"Really," Cloud stated, rubbing her shoulders softly. "I'll be here when you're ready."

What else could he say, honestly? He couldn't demand she make a decision right then and there or on some other short timeline, even if that's what he wanted. Saying anything else might upset her, and he was at her mercy. He was always at her mercy, and he never minded.

"Thank you," she said, offering him a weak smile and tilting her head a little as the tears stopped flowing.

Cloud knew he had to have gained a few points by being understanding. Reno, Cloud thought, would have gone off the rails, probably. Now was the time to remain calm, collected, and sympathetic. Cloud and Tifa always found their way back to each other – no matter how many years and miles were between them.

Cloud leaned forward to kiss Tifa's forehead before giving her shoulders another squeeze and letting her go. He turned and walked down the front steps but paused before he reached the rain.

"Looks like the storm will end soon," he said, looking up at the light gray clouds still smothering the sky.

"I hope so," Tifa said, leaving the double meaning of their words unspoken.

Cloud gave her a gentle smile over his shoulder before heading out into the rain. He never minded bad weather, as so often during his Shinra days he would be outside on hot days and relish a cool rain. He crossed the street to head in the direction of his hotel, but he didn't go inside once he reached it. He had somewhere else he needed to go, so he continued past the hotel, deeper into Edge.

Their moment in Cid's living room had to have meant something, even if it was far too fleeting.

Tifa thought she'd get a reprieve from Cloud after their discussion, but he didn't stay completely away. He couldn't just let himself slip from her mind. A couple times throughout the week he showed up to fix things around Seventh Heaven – the beam on the front porch that had been damaged by fiends and further marred by the recent storm, the burnt-out light in the back alley, Tifa's truck. She couldn't find it in her heart to send him away, but she tried not to spend too much time around him, and he avoided flirting with her as best he could.

Reno was a little more difficult. She told him about needing space and time to figure out what she really wanted at the bar the night she returned from Rocket Town.

_Flashback…_

"You sure missed a good time here, babe," Reno told her after he and the Turks sat down at their usual table and Tifa approached to bring their drinks. Scotch for the three men, a vodka-soda for Elena, though Tifa asked the blonde Turk if that's what she wanted, since she could now order Phoenix Flames if she wanted.

Free of the awkwardness and anticipation following the surprise wedding merriment, Reno found it easy to flirt openly with his favorite bartender in a way Cloud could not earlier in the day.

"Oh yeah?" Tifa asked after setting down Reno's scotch glass.

"You haven't partied 'til you partied with the Turks during a storm," he responded with a toothy grin.

At this point Reno either didn't notice or didn't care about the responses he received from his fellow Turks when he made cheesy comments to Tifa. Rude rubbed his eyes as if he were embarrassed _for_ Reno. Tseng and Elena exchanged smirks.

"Sorry, I prefer to stay dry," she responded in a tone only Reno caught as an inside joke.

Reno decided to let the obvious sexual response go, planning to text her about it later and instead of among his friends.

"Sounds like something happened to you during a rainstorm," Reno said with a sly grin. "Musta stuck with you _good_."

Tifa visibly tensed, hoping that only she and Reno caught the reference. It went over Tseng and Elena's heads, though the latter assumed this was an allusion to some past moment between Tifa and Reno. Rude, however, felt just the slightest sting of jealous anger in his gut, a rare feeling for him these days and one that only reared its ugly head when he learned something that Reno had done with Tifa while Rude still liked her.

It was raining – hard – the night Rude took Tifa out to dinner. He had always suspected something had happened that night, as Reno was in _too_ good a mood the next day, a rare occurrence for him that Rude later realized always coincided with an encounter with Tifa. A regular visit to her bar never did it, but fighting her and AVALANCHE seemed to do it, at least after he quickly found a barfly to screw afterward. Reno had that same goofy attitude a couple times before Rude had his date with Tifa, and until Cloud came back, Reno was in that mood quite a lot. He had always convinced himself that it was _his_ date with Tifa that made Reno avoid the bar for a week and try to forget about her. Now he realized something happened between Reno and Tifa that night, and his absence from the bar had nothing to do with turmoil over Rude's feelings. Or maybe it did but it was also part of some game Reno played – or maybe he couldn't let her go even back then…

The bald Turk had pushed his anger toward Reno out of his mind in the weeks since he found out about his redheaded partner's betrayal, but this brought it all right back into his mind. He didn't want to be angry again. He was over Tifa, at least enough to be in her and Reno's presence and help Reno win her heart, however impossible that may be with Cloud Strife around.

He had to get out of here before his emotions started to show, which for him still meant sitting quietly with his arms crossed and only grunting in response. But he knew that _Reno_ would pick up on his irritation; the redhead seemed especially tuned to his partner's outward emotions.

No, he wouldn't let this get to him. He had moved past his anger and hurt and had forgiven Reno, seeing how much of an effect Tifa had on the sharp-tongued Turk.

Rude cleared his throat and let this feeling die with his breath.

Tifa didn't respond to Reno's comment after she tensed, instead returning to her place behind the bar to serve more customers.

_Later…_

It was after closing time when the Turks and a few other stragglers finally began to leave Seventh Heaven. Reno was last in line, making sure Tifa saw his cocky grin as he prepared to saunter out of her establishment. His eyes, however, seemed to beg her to ask him to stay and she suspected he would come back even if she didn't offer him a respite.

"Reno, wait," she said timidly just as he was halfway out the door.

She didn't see his smug, knowing grin before he turned back to face her, as her own eyes were looking at the floor.

"Knew you couldn't resist, babe," he said out of the corner of his mouth as he strolled back over to where she stood.

"I needed… to talk to you," she said, addressing the floorboards.

Reno's heart sank just a tad. Having not been in a real relationship before, he didn't quite get the overwhelming meaning of the phrase, though the way she said it sounded like what she said would not be pleasant. He never used that line on women, preferring to just leave without having any sort of conversation on the matter.

"Yeah?" he asked a little too easily, now looming over her without any malice.

"I think I need a break to figure out what I really need and who I really want…" she trailed off, afraid of how he'd react. She had worried Cloud would react negatively, but he didn't, so she hoped Reno would also be uncharacteristically mature about the whole thing.

"You still don't know?" he asked, trying to sound as cool as possible.

"I have so much fun when I'm with you and I think I want it to last forever, but I feel the same way when I'm with him…" she practically whispered, still not looking into Reno's eyes.

If she had, she would have seen them widen briefly with agony. The way she was when they were together, it was like no one else in the world existed. He'd forget he was even competing with Strife for the most part. Everything seemed to disappear when he was with her.

He continued to stare at her, his mouth having fallen open as his eyes squinted in disbelief. How was he supposed to respond? He knew what he was feeling and what he would do if left unchecked. He thought about all the horrible things he said to her that day in the alley when he attacked her relationship with Strife. Couldn't do that again. For sure.

He clenched his jaw and stretched his neck as he tried to swallow his bad instincts.

"Sucks. But I guess I get it. Do what ya gotta do."

He thought if he kept spewing platitudes it would keep him from lashing out. She could tell he was annoyed, but she couldn't blame him.

"How long, do ya think?" he asked, his tone now solemn with just a ghost of dismay.

He stood just inches from her, looking down at her small frame, trying to see if he could glean some sort of answer from her eyes.

"I don't know. I told Cloud the same thing this morning. Maybe days. Maybe weeks," she answered, looking up into his eyes as her irises glistened under the bar lights. "The way it is now – isn't working, and it's my fault."

"Hey now, don't get like that," Reno said, reaching out almost involuntarily to embrace her. "None of this is your fault."

He wouldn't tell her that he blamed Strife for the current situation, though if the guy never left, Reno never would have had a chance with Tifa. Could he truly hate the man? Maybe not completely.

She hadn't expected him to hug her like Cloud had done that morning and found Reno's comfort to be just as supportive and welcome. She wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, knowing this would be the last time she was able to hug him, possibly forever. She tightened her grip and buried her face into his chest as he placed a hand on the back of her head.

After what felt like too soon, she pulled away and wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, once again sounding defeated. "I don't want to drag this on. I don't want to hurt either of you."

"Weeks, huh?" Reno said, rubbing his chin between his thumb and index finger and looking slightly to the side. "It'll be tough, but I've had to endure that long without ya before."

Hopefully, he thought, her necklace would be ready before her decision. He'd paid handsomely to ensure it would be ready in a week and now prayed she wouldn't choose _Strife_ before it was finished. Maybe it was his own narcissism, but he somehow thought in that moment that he would emerge triumphant from this distance.

He texted her later, after he had returned home: "I think you prefer it wet."

She didn't respond.

_End flashback…_

Reno had _technically_ stuck to Tifa's wishes for space. He didn't join his fellow Turks when they visited Seventh Heaven, though they stopped in occasionally. Elena would try to help Reno by making comments about him whenever Tifa stopped by their table. Things like, "he's a changed man," and "he saved a kitten today." Tifa didn't know if Elena was always telling the truth in her claims. A few times, Tseng scolded her, and Tifa could tell that at least once he told Elena she was doing more harm than good as the bartender walked away from their table.

And while Reno didn't pop up to surprise her in person or offer to help around her home like Cloud had, the redhead still helped at the theater. And every other day or so, gifts would be left at the back door in the alley that even though unmarked, were clearly from Reno. The first present was a white dress made of a flimsy material that was extremely short and low-cut. Tifa groaned and smacked herself in the forehead for suggesting Reno owed her a dress for the one he ripped the night of the previous rainstorm.

That was the only gift that was even the slightest bit sexual in nature. He also sent her a couple elixirs, a mastered Lightning materia, and a bouquet of pink, purple, and yellow lilies.

After a week of the men continuing to try to woo her, Tifa decided she needed to completely remove herself from Seventh Heaven, at least for a little while.

Barret never told her what happened during his meeting with Reno and Shinra. She tried calling and texting him, but he wouldn't give her a straight answer. Tifa finally reached out to Elmyra to at least see that Barret wasn't hurt or in danger following the meeting. Elmyra assured her that Barret was fine but wouldn't say what had happened. Frustrated, she figured she'd have to wait and get the story from Reno – or not – once she made her decision.

On the morning of her day off, Tifa locked up the bar and made her way through Edge with a small backpack, making sure she wouldn't be noticed by Cloud or Reno. Her destination: Aeris' church in the Sector 5 slums. She just hoped Cloud didn't still frequent the building.

It was a long walk, but Tifa had time and looked forward to the exercise. She was back to training, but without daily monster attacks she was getting a little bored, a thought that surprised her considering how devastating and annoying the constant stream of fiends had been just a couple weeks earlier. Now she walked the full distance to Old Midgar without any issues. Once inside the old city, however, she had to deal with the fiends that either remained from before Meteor or had taken up residence in the wreckage. At least there weren't as many as there had been during the recent crisis, and Reno's mastered Lightning materia helped immensely in some cases.

She climbed through a crumbled part of the outer Midgar wall and into the junkyards of Sector 6. She had heard Wall Market had been revived somewhat, but she avoided that section of the sector, not wanting to walk down _that_ memory lane.

Sector 5 didn't look that much different than before Meteorfall. There was a much smaller plate to fall over the sector, and it had already seemed like it had been crushed even before the calamity. She remembered the collapsed expressway and mountains of broken machinery that lined the sector way back before even the Sector 7 plate fell.

She took the same path she had when she went looking for Cloud at Aeris' church two months ago. She walked up the front steps and pushed open the heavy double doors that remained on their hinges even after all the carnage. She took noticed of the broken pews and columns that still lay as they had all those years ago. One foot in front of the other, Tifa approached Aeris' flowers, still blooming as vibrant as ever. There were no monsters in here, ever, just peace and a heavenly presence that couldn't quite be described.

The martial artist crouched down at the edge of the broken wood panels just outside the flower bed and brought her hand to a yellow lily. It looked just like the one Cloud had given her back at Seventh Heaven when he returned from his first reactor bombing with Barret. She still remembered the way he presented it to her with flair, turning and lowering his head as if he were about to recite poetry. She had never imagined he would be so thoughtful. Of course, she later learned that Aeris had given him the flower, but at a time when she was just a flower peddler and Cloud didn't know who she was.

She hunched over to bring her nose closer to the flower and inhale its scent as if it might give her some resolution.

Nothing.

She sat back on her heels and removed her backpack. She didn't want to stay here for weeks like Cloud had, but she had prepared to stay for a few hours or possibly the night to see if her departed friend might give her some wisdom and clarity.

She knew it was a long shot; Aeris had reached out plenty of times to guide Tifa thus far. Aeris was the reason Tifa fled the Forgotten Capital to find Cloud dying on her doorstop. Aeris also had shown her the way out of the Lifestream – and into Reno's arms – while fighting Jenova in the Northern Crater.

Could Tifa really ask her for more? Especially with something like this? What if Zack appeared, as Cloud claimed he had? Would either of them even consider Reno an option for her?

She supposed that, perhaps, was what she needed to hear. That Reno was the wrong choice and she should never have entertained him as an option, that her heart was just flat out incorrect for ever having feelings for him in the first place.

Tifa leaned back on her arms and stretched out her legs to the side of the flower bed, letting her head fall back as she looked to the ceiling before closing her eyes. She must have fallen asleep for a while because she was "awakened" from her meditating by a sweet, familiar voice.

"I can't help you, you know," Tifa heard Aeris' voice.

She scrambled to look around the church to find where her friend stood. An apparition was kneeling down on the other side of the flower bed, looking down at the lilies in resolute contemplation. Tifa was amazed to see her friend, as Cloud had said she didn't appear to speak with him for weeks.

"Aeris, you're here!" Tifa blurted out, though she was afraid her friend could just as quickly disappear.

"Hmm? Of course I am," Aeris responded as if it were a silly question.

"Cloud said he didn't hear from you for weeks."

"Did he? I guess that explains it," the flower girl said with a smile as she continued to tend to her flowers. Her ghost hands brushed right through the buds, but she must have been helping them somehow.

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked, turning to her side to sit on her left hip, propped up on outstretched arms.

Aeris giggled and stood up, dusting off her dress and moving to a different area of the flower bed.

"I was wondering why he kept asking about things I already answered," she said without looking at Tifa. "I don't think he could hear me with the headaches and the Jenova cells."

Tifa digested the information. It had always bothered her that it took Aeris so long to reach Cloud. She couldn't imagine her deceased friend had been ignoring him, and this made sense. Cloud hadn't been in a position to listen to _anybody_ until his headaches dissipated.

"Aeris, please, I don't know what to do."

"Why does everyone think I have all the answers?" Aeris said with another giggle that let the bartender know she wasn't annoyed.

"You always did."

"Did I?"

"It seemed like it."

"Well, not this time. This is something you have to feel," Aeris said while walking over to sit next to Tifa. "When I first met Cloud, he reminded me so much of Zack, at least the way he carried himself and his eyes. For a long time, I struggled with that."

Aeris brought her knees up beneath her chin and hugged them.

"He brought up all these old feelings of Zack and I wondered if he was alive out there somewhere and if Cloud could help me find him," she continued. "As we went on, I realized he wasn't like Zack but he had his own wonderful qualities and drawbacks. I felt like I had to choose between the hope of Zack and a very real Cloud."

Tifa hung her head at those words. She didn't get to _choose_ Cloud back then, but Aeris could have.

"But by the end, I realized Cloud wasn't mine to choose, he was yours," Aeris responded, sensing her friend's distress.

"And Reno?"

"It looks like you've had a lot of fun together," Aeris said in a teasing tone that harbored no judgment. "And, you know, he, Rude, and Tseng were always nice when they came around. They never meant me any harm, even if they were supposed to take me to Hojo."

"Did you get to know them?"

"A little. I tried asking Rude all kinds of questions, but he wouldn't answer them," she laughed and shook her head. "Reno always seemed impatient with me, but he made sure no one ever hurt me, and Tseng, well, he kept anyone from taking me unless I went willingly."

Tifa let out a soft "hmm," as her friend spoke.

"But look how they both are around you!" Aeris said, gently elbowing Tifa in the shoulder. "They're both very different men now from the versions I knew – that's because of you."

"I guess," Tifa said. She wasn't getting anywhere in her decision.

"They're definitely both smitten," a deep but jovial voice said from the doorway leading to the back of the church.

Tifa looked up to see Zack leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and smiling. He strolled over to the two women and sat down next to Aeris, who smiled at his presence.

"This isn't very helpful," Tifa told the pair.

"Like I said, I can't help you," Aeris responded. "It's a choice you have to make."

Tifa leaned back on her hands and stared at the back wall of the church. "I guess," she said. "I wish it were easier."

"Nothing worth fighting for is ever easy," Aeris said with a deeper smile.

Tifa sighed. She wasn't going to find her answer here, but she could at least enjoy her time with her friend and maybe forget about her dilemma for a little while. A devious grin graced her lips before she spoke.

"Zack, remember when you didn't know about magic back in the Nibelheim mountains?" she asked.

Zack turned a deep shade of red, though he was just an apparition, and Aeris looked amused and shock.

"What?" she asked, surprised. "How did you not know about magic after everything we talked about?"

Zack shook his head. "I knew about magic; I was just wondering about how you could use it from materia and how individual materia orbs held different powers."

Tifa and Aeris shared a laugh.

"I didn't know you two knew each other," Aeris said.

"Remember Cloud's story about Nibelheim? Zack was actually the SOLDIER who was there. Cloud was the Shinra grunt," Tifa explained.

"Ohhhh, that's why the story never made sense. I always suspected…"

The three joked and talked long into the night before Tifa had to sleep. In the morning, she decided it was best to leave. She was no closer to a decision and figured there was one other place she could seek answers. She wanted to hug Aeris goodbye, or stay and chat for… ever, but she knew she couldn't. At least now she knew where she could come to talk to Aeris whenever she wanted.

Tifa traveled back through Sector 5 and Sector 6 toward the gate that separated the latter from Sector 7. The last time she had stood there was to say goodbye to her friends from AVALANCHE after the plate fell.

This time, however, as she approached with the sun rising high into the sky and beaming sunshine down upon the ruins of Midgar, something was different. The gate was still smashed and in its place stacked numerous parts of the plate from above, but attached to all of that was a large plaque that Tifa wasn't close enough to read yet. In front of the former gate was also what appeared to look like the beginnings of a memorial and garden, with a few park benches and an unfinished paved area. To the side of the benches were a few stacked bags of mulch and soil and a wheelbarrow, as well as more tiling, a patching trowel, and bags of cement.

Tifa approached slowly. It was clear _someone_ had been here, perhaps recently, and even though this project looked harmless, the person building it might not be.

She inspected the honeycomb terracotta tiles beneath her feet and glanced at the benches on either side of her. There was a large, round plot of dirt in the middle of the tiles, possibly for a fountain. Tifa wondered how anyone could get it to work and whether someone was going to try to get flowers and shrubs to grow in the abandoned slums.

She continued walking slowly toward the destroyed gate, just as she had in Aeris' church. One foot in front of the other. Her footsteps were heavy yet tentative, and she approached the plaque to caress it with one hand.

_This monument is dedicated to the indomitable spirit of all those who lost their lives in Sector 7 when the plate fell – and to the brave heroes who tried to save them._

Tifa gasped as she read the words, pulling her hand back and placing it over her mouth. This all looked so new, certainly newer than if it were placed before Meteorfall. Who would build a monument in the slums when everyone lived in Edge now? Well, except for some monsters and junkies, and Tifa doubted any of them could have done this.

It must have been Barret, but he hadn't told her about it, and why wouldn't he seek her help? It certainly wasn't Cloud. He wouldn't have had the time. Maybe someone who lost a loved one in the plate crash and hadn't been able to find forgiveness, like her.

Tifa continued to stare at the plaque, hoping to receive an answer from the raised bronze letters cast against a dark oxidized bronze background. She wondered if the creator of the plaque knew Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie and everything they did to stop the plate from falling. Or maybe "heroes" was referring to someone else, someone close to the creator's heart.

She traced a finger over the letters as if she could sense the backstory, remembering back to that awful day. Along with Nibelheim, Aeris' death, and Cloud leaving her, the Sector 7 plate falling had been one of the worst experiences in her life.

She remembered watching Wedge fall from the pillar, surviving only because he used a grappling hook to break some of the fall. She remembered leaving him in Aeris' care so she could go help Cloud fight Shinra, never once thinking it might be the last time she ever saw her pudgy friend. She remembered asking Aeris to save Marlene. She remembered seeing Biggs lying dead against the pillar a few flights up. She remembered Jessie's last words as she flirted with Cloud one last time.

"_Oh no… Tifa's crying. Did I say something wrong?_ _Don't you guys… have somewhere to be? It's not polite… to stare… you know…_"

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she continued to stare at the plaque. Behind it lay her friend's corpses, never to be found or identified. They never got a proper burial, just buried beneath rubble as if they were just another part of the plate.

"What should I do," she asked them quietly. She knew they couldn't answer like Aeris. She was able to appear because she was a Cetra who could flow through the Lifestream as a ghost. Zack was able to do the same because of the mako infusions he received from Shinra. Cloud would be able to traverse the Lifestream when he died, but Tifa probably couldn't. She, like Jessie and her other departed AVALANCHE friends, would be absorbed into the Lifestream, only visible in their last moments before death, frozen, to anyone unlucky enough to have fallen in, as she had with Cloud.

Just as the tears began to run down her cheeks, Tifa heard soft footsteps coming up behind her. She quickly turned around into a fighting stance with her fists raised in the air to protect herself from whatever or whomever was approaching. In the ruined slums, the odds were against the feet belonging to anyone or anything friendly.

Tifa lowered her fists and softened when she saw who was approaching. It was Reno, and even though she had just been prepared to fight him, he didn't look fazed. He stood on the terracotta tiles in his black Turk suit, the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up past his elbows and one hand holding his jacket, which was slung over his shoulder. A lit cigarette dangled from his bottom lip and his eyes were focused on her yet somehow not engaging with her.

Without doing anything to acknowledge her presence, he draped his jacket over the back of one bench. He then reached to grip the cigarette between his index and middle fingers and extracted one last drag before flicking the offending item off into the distance. He opened his mouth to let the smoke float out easily, almost as if he weren't exhaling at all.

Still not saying anything, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of mint gum. He removed a stick with his teeth just as he would a cigarette, but instead of lighting it, he unwrapped it and folded it into his mouth. He placed his hands into his pockets as Tifa crossed her arms in slight annoyance.

"Did you follow me here?" she asked, her tone somewhere between genuine concern and a demand.

Without showing any reaction or flinch, Reno replied, "Nah, came here to work, yo."

Tifa looked at the tiling and benches again. Never in a million years would she have thought Reno could be behind it.

"Did you do this?" she asked. "For me?"

Reno exhaled in amusement. "That's some ego you got there," he said, remembering the time she used that same line against him outside Seventh Heaven. The night it rained…

Tifa stared at him with questioning eyes, slightly furrowing her brow in confusion. Reno grinned.

"This was actually for me," he said casually, as if no one could question him. "Started petitioning Reeve for it after the Meteor statue went up, yo. But he got no love for Turks."

"Reeve refused?" Tifa said. Somehow, she believed Reno even though it made no sense.

"I told ya I always felt bad about the plate. Wayyyy back when. You still hated me," he chuckled at that last part. How things had changed. "Reeve didn't want to spend the money when it could be spent in Edge helping people. That, and no one goes into Old Midgar anymore except sadists."

Tifa scoffed and shifted her weight to her hip.

"So, I started building it myself," Reno said proudly. "Ordered the plaque and hung it up and started working on this little area," he added, motioning around him. "Thing is, I know destruction and electricity, not tiles and fountains and shit."

Tifa let out a short laugh.

"You've been working on it for over a year?"

"Nah. I started it after Reeve said no for the last time, but I got sidetracked with Rufus' bidding and… you," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"I see."

"But I started again this week. Had nothin' better to do since I can't annoy you," he said with a lopsided grin.

Tifa quirked an eyebrow and let one side of her lip curl into a smile.

"You really started this before anything happened between us?" she asked, still skeptical.

"Honest, babe. You can ask Reeve."

Tifa resigned herself to do just that.

"I never expected this from you," she said after a brief pause.

"There's some part of you that still sees me as just a Turk, huh?"

Tifa hung her head sheepishly. "I guess."

"I guess it's good that even you still think I'm a badass. Maybe I haven't lost my edge, yanno?" Reno replied with a half-hearted laugh. Tifa gave him a knowing glance.

"Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. You haven't seemed so evil these past few weeks."

"I'll take it," he accepted.

"By the way," Tifa asked, more confident now. "What happened in your meeting with Barret?"

"He didn't tell you?" Reno asked. Tifa shook her head. "Aww, geez. He refused to sell so I had to get menacing, yanno? But as I stood there slowly clubbing my EMR into my hand, the lawyers offered to _lease_ the land and pay him royalties."

"What?!" Tifa asked, astonished.

"Yeah, like, what the fuck? They coulda told me that was an option so I didn't go in there all worried I'd screw things up with you..."

"Barret didn't tell me..." she wondered why. Would it have been so difficult?

"Oh hey, I got ya somethin'," Reno said, snapping her from her thoughts as he turned to his displaced jacket and rummaged through an inside pocket to pull out a jewelry box.

"You shouldn't be buying me gifts, Reno…" she admonished gently.

"Last one, I swear," he said, holding up three fingers as if to give the scout's honor.

It was then he finally closed the gap between them, still keeping an emotional distance even as he presented her with the black velvet box.

"What's this?" Tifa asked before opening it.

"Ya gotta open it," he prodded.

She grimaced at him before placing a hand on top of the box and digging her fingernails between the lid and bottom, prying it open to reveal a stunning diamond and emerald necklace. A heart-shaped pendant, encrusted with diamonds, hung from a thick silver chain. A large emerald, Tifa couldn't even guess how many carats, also shaped like a heart, seemed to almost float in the center of the silver heart.

"Oh my God," she said, gently lifting it out of the box. "This is gorgeous."

"Designed it myself," he said a little too smugly. She liked it, and he was over the moon that he had done something right.

"It's my birthstone," Tifa said, running her fingers over the emerald.

"I know," Reno informed her before closing one eye and looking up with the other as he tried to remember something. "It also symbolizes peace, balance, healing, and bonding. Oh, and fertility, but I'll just ignore that one for now."

Tifa chortled at his comment, continuing to stare at the jewelry. Could she really accept this? She studied the large emerald as everything came together. What had been missing from Reno all this time? Repentance. He had shown that with the memorial. He was building that without the desire to impress her. The necklace represented what else she was missing from him: The idea that he wasn't going to leave her. It wasn't a full commitment, but if they continued to see each other it was enough for her to believe he wasn't just in it for the conquest anymore. There was no way he would have spent the time, money, and energy creating this for her just to win a competition against Cloud.

"Wanna try it on?" he asked after she was silent for too long.

She looked up at him and nodded, smiling from ear to ear. He motioned for her to turn around and she obeyed, lifting her thick hair off her shoulders so he could place the necklace around her neck and clasp it in the back. Tifa put a hand on the pendant as he attached the chain, so fearful that it would fall off.

When he indicated he had it secured, she turned to face him with wonderment sparkling in her eyes, which made him offer his trademark grin.

"Beautiful," he said as he looked at the necklace resting on her collar bones. The pendant hung just above her cleavage.

Tifa reached forward to hug him, whispering "Thank you" into his chest. Reno was pleasantly surprised by her action and reached his arms around her to rest his hands on her upper back. They stayed like that for several minutes before Tifa heard Reno said something she _really_ couldn't believe. Was her mind playing tricks on her, the wind whispering things she didn't even know she wanted to hear?

"What?" she asked.

If she misheard or heard something that had never been said, no harm, no foul. But if he did, indeed, say what she thought he said, she'd get to hear it again and be sure. Reno pulled back to hold her at arms' length and looked deep into her eyes.

"Tifa, I love you," he said with more commitment than she'd ever heard from him before.

"I… really?" she stammered, still disbelieving. Reno laughed.

"Yeah, crazy huh? I've only said that to two women in my entire life, and they were both blood," he said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Tifa hugged him again, tighter this time. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I only just admitted it, yo," he said, just as effortlessly as if he had just asked her if she wanted a piece of his gum. "I never felt this way before, though. Kinda scary, huh?"

Tifa looked up from where her cheek rested against his chest. "Yeah," she said before squeezing him.

"I don't want to lose you, babe," he said, looking into her eyes once more.

"I don't want to lose you, either," she said, almost sadly. "Reno… this is… this is everything I needed from you…"

The memorial especially had done more to bring her closer to him than anything else. Always, just under the surface waiting to be scratched, was that fear that he never really cared about dropping the plate on Sector 7 and would do it again if Shinra asked. She had always avoided that question.

Him saying he loved her also helped, more than the trinket, even though it was beautiful. Something in Reno truly had changed since he began trying to hook up with Tifa. He wasn't the same man he was when she first fought him on the plate. He wasn't even the same man he was a month ago when all he seemed interested in was sex.

"I know you needed time to think, but since you were here, I figured I'd just give ya the necklace now," he said, pulling back a little.

"Thank you," she replied calmly, though her heart was doing flip flops. No one had said "I love you" to her since long, long before Cloud left. "Reno?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah?"

"I love you, too," she said.

She didn't see Reno's eyes light up as the sun was behind his head, blinding her from the edges of his hair spikes. He tightened his grip on her and picked her up off the ground, spinning her around a few times before putting her feet back on the tiles.

"So, what happens now?" he asked, somehow still dreading the answer.

Tifa buried her face in his chest again. This was going to be painful. "I guess I have to talk to Cloud…" she trailed off.

Reno reached down suddenly to cup her face in his hands – his usual move – and kiss her with all the force that had been building inside him over the past week. They quickly fell to the ground beneath their feet, with Reno on top of her briefly, before lifting her onto his lap as he sat up, his legs crisscrossed and Tifa straddling him with her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands were greedier than ever before, wanting to feel every inch of her back in a rushed and haphazard fashion, as if he had forgotten his usual moves, as if he feared she would disappear if he let her go.

"I'm gonna spoil you senseless, yanno," he breathed into her mouth. "In every definition of the word."

Tifa didn't know if the "word" he was referring to was "spoil" or "senseless," but she supposed both meant essentially the same thing. Reno started to ravish her earlobe before moving onto her neck and shoulders. He definitely _wanted_ to go further, but he knew that just because she had chosen him didn't mean he could get inside her again. It'd look too much like he did all this just for sex, when he really, truly, hadn't. But damn if the thought didn't cross his mind. He'd waited this long, he could wait until after she let down Strife.

"Reno…" she said, placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing herself back just a little.

She said it in the way that it always played in his head, making him melt in a manner he felt was undignified, even if it wasn't that noticeable.

"We should wait…" Tifa said.

Words he didn't want to hear right now. He wasn't at full attention, but the fact that just her panties were rubbing against his crotch was definitely having an effect. He took a quick glance down to torture himself. Her skirt had ridden up to her hips as she straddled him, and he could see the thin, lacy piece of fabric barely covering her anatomy. Black, just like when he caught a glimpse in her bar as he gave her stitches.

"You're killing me, babe," he said in a low growl, his loins now aching.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I think I should have the talk with Cloud first," she said.

Reno groaned to let her know he knew she was right but still didn't like it.

"Yeah, I gotcha," he said, holding her close and rocking her. "I can wait a little longer for you to do what's right."

This Reno was hardly the same man she knew years or even months ago. Tifa wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder, letting him rock her gently. Had she made the right choice? It didn't matter who she would choose, there would be a fallout and she would suffer from lingering fears for a while. She'd be asking the same question if she were sitting on Cloud's lap right now, she was sure.

But she had to choose, and Reno had just negated the concerns she had about moving forward in a relationship with him.

After a few more minutes of holding each other, Tifa lifted her head and frowned.

"I need to get back to open the bar," she said sadly, not wanting to leave him.

"If you hadn't told me you loved me, I'd be dying right now," Reno joked.

"I know, I'm sorry," she responded before shifting to get out of his embrace.

He remained seated as she stood up and adjusted her skirt before he rose as well.

"When do you think you'll tell him?" he asked, his hands finding their way back into his pockets.

"I'll ask to talk to him tomorrow," she said.

Reno reached out to hold the emerald pendant in his palm. "Don't lose this in the meantime," he teased.

Tifa placed her hand over it once again and wrapped her fingers around it to keep it safe.

"I won't," she said with a smile. "Will you be in the bar tonight?"

"Probably not a good idea since I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off ya," he said, scratching behind his ear.

Tifa chuckled. "Probably for the best, then."

"How about this," Reno said. "Meet me at the Meteor monument in the middle of Edge tomorrow night before you open the bar."

Tifa liked how he was thinking. It was romantic.

"Deal," she said before kissing him on the cheek and turning back toward the town. "You coming?"

"I came here to work, babe," he said with a grin.

Tifa laughed and nodded her head. "Okay then, see you tomorrow night," she said.

"Can't wait, Teef," he said with a wave as she started walking away.

He watched until he could no longer see her before plopping down on the bench and running his hands through his hair. Was it all a dream?

"I love you, Tifa," he said quietly. It felt good to say it out loud.

_Meanwhile…_

Tifa walked slowly back to her bar, processing what she had just done. She chose Reno. For real. Suddenly all the fears she always had assaulted her brain and she attempted to squash them. He had just assuaged those concerns.

But what would she possibly say to Cloud? After everything they'd been through, how could she tell the man that meant so much to her for so much of her life that it was over? How would he take it?

Tifa inhaled for a few seconds before exhaling for a good while. There was no easy way to do this. It was never going to be easy, no matter who she chose. It wasn't a case where one man was just so awful she could cast him aside like he was nothing. She loved them both, and couldn't imagine how she would break the news to all her friends.

She pulled out her phone and found Cloud's number.

"Can we talk tomorrow?" she typed before hitting send.

**End notes: AHHHHH this is killing me. I cried for an hour last night thinking about the ending. Stay tuned…**


	47. The Day His World Stood Still

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content.**

**I know I'm going to lose some of you with this chapter. I wrote it while listening to sad music, while depressed, and cried as I wrote. But I know some of you will get angry. That's okay, like I said, I wrote this story for me.**

Chapter 47:

Reno stood in the center of Edge, in front of the monument dedicated to the Chosen Day. It wasn't night, but Seventh Heaven opened at 5 p.m., and he had told Tifa to meet him before it opened. He looked at his watch for the hundredth time.

4:22 p.m.

The sun was beginning to set since the nights were getting longer, but it wasn't _romantically_ dark as he would have liked. He thought it would be more impactful if they met beneath the monument under the moonlight, with the few stars visible that weren't drowned out by the city's light pollution.

Reno was beyond uncharted territory at this point. He ran out of schemes and knowledge the minute he realized he wanted to keep seeing Tifa after they had sex. Everything since that day, just two weeks ago, had been new to him. He felt like he was alone in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the life raft in which he sat, bobbing up and down in the sea water as he worried a rogue wave was just over the horizon, threatening to take him out for good. He thought that telling Tifa how he felt would bring him to the shore in salvation, but he was more lost than ever.

He didn't know how to be a boyfriend. He had no experience in this department and had no role models around that could help. Rude had one girlfriend in all the time Reno knew him, and that was a brief relationship with a former member of AVALANCHE way before either of them knew of Tifa Lockhart. Elena apparently had some boyfriends outside of work occasionally, but they were never really serious and Reno never met them. And Tseng, well, he had only started dating Elena recently and Reno really didn't know what happened when they weren't all together.

And so here he was, standing at the monument in one of his freshly laundered black Turk suits (he had several of them), holding a bouquet of roses, watching cars drive past in the roundabout that surrounded the Meteor statue. He knew that now had to be simple, had to be easy. It couldn't just be sex and surprises. He needed to be grounded in a way he had never been before. Nibelweiss flowers were too intense. The colorful lilies had served their purpose. Red roses were the universal symbol of love and relationships, so that's what he brought.

He knew it wasn't typical for a Turk in uniform to be standing around with a bouquet of roses and clearly waiting for someone with a lopsided grin on his face. People walking along the rounded sidewalk and even a few people in cars turned to stare at him with fearful confusion. Was something bad about to happen? Bad things always happened when the Turks were around. He couldn't possibly be doing what it looked like he was doing: Waiting for a date.

He checked his watch again: 4:26 p.m. Where was she?

His heart had been racing the past twenty minutes as he continued to just stand where he was, looking like a forlorn lover who had been stood up. Tifa had chosen him the day before. They agreed to meet here before Seventh Heaven opened. But they, stupidly, hadn't mentioned a specific time and he thought texting for confirmation was a little too anxious. He could wait. She had to arrive before 5:00 p.m.

He searched through the crowds of people and cars, walking around the monument in case she might appear from a different direction. Nothing. Just strangers, going about their business and either ignoring him or giving him quizzical stares. He returned once again to the side of the monument that faced Seventh Heaven. The bar was too far away for him to see it, but his eyes were set in that direction. A sea of people seemed to be blocking his view, wearing dull colors and blending into the background, a faceless crowd that seemed only to exist to increase his heart rate.

And then, like a flower that found a way to survive in infertile soil in a dreary world, she appeared. He saw her through the crowd during a split second where she wasn't looking straight forward; her eyes were on the ground and she hadn't looked up to find him.

And then he saw her face.

_Earlier that day…_

Tifa did, in fact, call Reeve to confirm Reno's story about the Sector 7 monument. She didn't distrust the Turk, it was more like she wanted to hear something about him while she waited for Cloud to arrive for their conversation. The conversation she had been dreading.

Reeve recounted how annoying Reno had been in the early days of Edge, trying to get the Sector 7 memorial built. The Shinra executive explained that Sector 7 was still a hole in his own heart and that he welcomed the idea of the memorial in principle, but just as Reno had said, he didn't want to allocate any money away from the people of Edge for something that few, if any, would ever visit. The Meteor statue, he said, was different because even though it didn't help residents with food or shelter, it brought people together and carried an ineffable quality.

Tifa understood. She and Reno were probably the only two people who had seen it; probably the only two people who _would_ see it, since no one really went into Old Midgar anymore as the place had been thoroughly mined for loot.

Cloud had responded to her text the night before, lacking the trepidation she thought was dripping from her message.

"Sure, does the morning work?" he had texted.

They agreed on a specific time and now Tifa sat on one of her barstools with a nearly empty glass of Corel wine in front of her. She glanced at the clock that hung on the wall: 10:57 a.m.

It was too early to drink, but she hadn't slept all night, going over and over again in her head what she would say to Cloud.

When the early morning rays of light began to peek through her windows, she completely gave up on sleep and made some coffee. After one, two, three cups, however, she was no more relaxed; instead, she was more jittery and nervous than ever. So, she got dressed and went downstairs to pour herself a glass of wine to calm the emotions swirling inside of her. It helped, a little, but as the clock tick, tick, ticked closer to 11:00 a.m., her heart began racing faster and faster, almost painfully so.

She was nearly in full-blown panic mode when she heard a knock on the door. He was two minutes early. She wasn't ready for this. Everything she planned to say, everything she knew she needed to say, it all vanished from her mind. Her heart pounded in her chest and heated butterflies created a whirlwind in her stomach. Over and over again, all night, she wished that this was all a horrible dream that she could wake up from – that the past year never happened, and she wouldn't have to make this decision. That she and Cloud were still sitting at a table in The Golden Chocobo, joking about Professor Hojo.

She closed her eyes and shook her head as she stood up, walking to the sink to pour out the remaining wine and hide the glass. She took a deep breath and walked toward the door. She knew she couldn't go back and change things. Everything happened for a reason, and nothing she could have done last year would have changed what was about to happen at this very moment.

She opened the door and was already fighting back tears when she saw Cloud standing before her, his eyes warm and inviting. He must have thought she was inviting him over to choose him.

Her heart ached for him, for the crushing pain he was about to feel – all caused by her and her traitorous actions.

"Cloud…" she said, her voice trembling as she tried and failed to mask her despair.

He seemed to disregard what she thought was obvious, responding with a smile and a gentle hand on her cheek.

"Hi, Tifa…" he said in a tone only he could pull off, somewhere between cool disinterest and oblivious charm.

She took a step back and let him enter. She didn't see him look around the bar for signs of what she was about to say, thinking the walls would tell him something she had not yet. She quickly walked past him and sat on one of the barstools, placing her hands in front of her atop the counter and fidgeting with her fingers, all the while avoiding his gaze.

It was then Cloud started to wonder if he had just walked into the end of his life. Shouldn't she be happy if she were choosing him? Or maybe she was just emotional because of the choice itself and everything she had gone through. Maybe this was all a trick and she would brighten up any minute.

She didn't.

He took a seat on the barstool next to her, leaning on one elbow and situating himself so that he was slightly turned toward her, watching as she picked at her nails. He knew this Tifa. She could be thinking a million things right now, some of which worked in his favor and others… not so much.

When she finally, after what felt like an eternity, looked over at him, her eyes were downcast and listless. The usual sparkle that accompanied her garnet irises was absent, dulled by whatever she was about to say.

"Cloud, I…" she began, and his heart dropped.

"Tifa, wait, I have something I want to say," he interrupted.

Tifa welcomed the distraction, even though she knew it was just delaying the inevitable. Right now, she wanted _anything_ to delay this conversation. Another meteor, Sephiroth to walk through the door, a Jenova attack, anything. She swallowed hard and nodded ever so slightly to allow him to continue.

"Tifa, I've been thinking," Cloud began, now fidgeting his own fingers atop the bar, struggling to look at her. "I know we've talked about this before, but I want you to know that I never loved Aeris."

She snapped her head to look at him, her brow slightly furrowed in confusion.

"The part of my psyche that took on Zack's personality, that part may have thought it loved her, but Tifa," he placed his fist beneath her chin to tilt her head up to look at him, "the real me, the _real_ Cloud, the boy you grew up with in Nibelheim? He _only_ has eyes for you. Always has, always will."

Tifa started to desperately shift her gaze between Cloud's eyes, searching for some evidence that he hadn't just said that.

"Cloud, I know about the Zack part…" she said, turning from his hand and looking at her hands again. This time he placed a hand on top of hers.

"No, you don't," he insisted. "At least not fully."

She studied his hand, feeling his callouses atop her delicate fingers, examining the rough and raw knuckles that had seen so many battles and so much trauma. Somehow, those hands always provided her more comfort than anything else.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking back at him.

"When you found me at that train station, I wasn't me, not really, but even in that stupid, lost soul's brain, you were all I ever needed. Everything I did was for you – joining AVALANCHE, chasing Sephiroth, it was all for you," he said, looking deep into her eyes – into her very soul. He took a deep breath as she stared back at him. "Because, Tifa…"

At this point, Cloud raised himself from his barstool and reached into his back pocket. Tifa watched as he retrieved a jewelry box, smaller than the one Reno had in his suit jacket pocket. Tifa's eyes widened, mostly confused. She needed to stop him, but her voice was suddenly lost, echoing only in her head.

Cloud lowered himself onto one knee and opened the box to reveal a diamond engagement ring. It was similar to the one Cid gave Shera, with three stones, except this one had a silver band and the two smaller, outer gems were emeralds instead of diamonds. The ring sparkled even under the dim lights of the bar, reflecting speckles of white light off of her eyes as she stood staring at the item before her and the man on one knee. Her mouth had fallen open and her heart had sunk deep into her chest.

"Tifa," Cloud began, looking up at her with a soft smile as he held the ring box toward her, "I have made so many mistakes in my life, but the biggest one of all was hurting you. I can't imagine my life without you again and I never want to lose you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, giving you everything you deserve and everything you ever wanted. You are, and always have been, my whole world, and I want to prove that every day."

As she stood listening to him, she began to cry. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the words she'd longed to hear for just about a decade flowed out of his mouth without any pain or hesitation. Her hero, the man who was always there when she needed him most, was baring his soul before her.

As so often happened when they were together, the rest of the world faded away. The bar disappeared, along with the floors, tables, stools, and liquor. There was no ceiling, no door, no windows. Just she and Cloud.

"Tifa Lockhart, will you marry me?" Cloud asked to a woman who looked like she was about to collapse into sobs.

Tifa's knees weakened and she could swear the thigh high pantyhose she was wearing were rubbing against each other as she wobbled. She brought one hand up to her mouth as a sob escaped her lips and her shoulders began to shake.

What had she always needed from Cloud? For him to squelch the fears she had about him loving Aeris or leaving her. An engagement ring was a commitment, a _real_ commitment.

"Cloud…" she trailed off.

_Later that day…_

Reno still had the grin on his face as Tifa came into view, her gaze focused on the sidewalk, not looking up to search for him in the crowd. He couldn't fully see her face, as he was still only catching glimpses of her among the throngs of Edge residents hurrying to their next destinations. At one point, people passed her and her eyes were closed, completely cutting him off from discerning any information from her expression.

Now, Reno had already once in his relationship with Tifa experienced a moment where time slowed down. It was the night she was shot, when a few seconds of action played out in minutes to his distressed mind. He still swore he remembered clearly seeing that large man take several minutes to fall to the ground, and that he witnessed the man's tooth floating through the air like astronauts in outer space.

Time again slowed down, as people walked by in a soft blur of beiges and grays, offset only by similarly colored buildings and roads. He would see Tifa looking down, and then people would pass, and then he would see Tifa amongst them before more would pass, and then she was looking down in the middle of a blink that seemed more like she was walking with her eyes closed.

His heart raced as he prepared to remember this moment forever. The moment that she finally became his.

And then he saw her face.

Her eyes seemed to droop at the sides, like she had lost all emotion. Her spirit seemed to have disappeared, leaving behind a husk of a woman who had lost everything. Reno figured, in that long, slow second, that it was residual depression from her talk with Cloud. He had to feel bad for the guy, knowing such an amazing creature his whole life only to lose her in the end. Reno couldn't even imagine how he would have felt if Tifa hadn't chosen him. But she had, and she was coming toward him.

His heart fluttered as she seemed to get closer without even taking a step, as if the crowds around her were simply disappearing into the background. This was his angel, the woman who taught him life was worth living beyond what he had always thought possible. The woman who showed him a better way, who put him in his place when he deserved it, who gave him everything he never knew he needed but now couldn't live without.

As her eyes drooped, watery and lifeless, he saw that she was frowning, and her nose was red. She had been crying. Again, probably because of the tough conversation she had with Strife.

But after another eternity, she finally, slowly, lifted her head to look in his direction.

Her expression did not change. She was, for lack of a better word, sad.

Had Strife done something to her? Done something to himself as a backlash to Tifa pushing him away? Reno's face began the early stages of contorting into confusion as life slowed to an even more decelerated crawl.

Tifa's eyes locked with his own and her expression changed. It was so slight the random passersby probably wouldn't even have noticed, but it was enough to show him that she was not sad, but remorseful. A million possibilities of why she might be carrying guilt sped through his head even as the rest of the world dragged by. It could only be due to Strife and her lifetime of memories with him. What had he done to her?

Reno felt like he was in one of those dreams where his legs stopped working and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't put one foot in front of the other to take a single step toward Tifa. He knew that as soon as she was in his arms he could soothe her, remind her that she made the right decision by choosing him, and that these feelings of remorse would go away.

But as Tifa moved inches closer through the crowd, Reno saw that she was not alone. Of course, she wasn't alone, the streets were busy and there were strangers all around her. But no, this was different. His eyes finally trailed down to her lips, to her chin, down her neck and to her shoulders. His heart began to drop as he scanned her shoulder to her toned bicep where her gloves usually ended.

It was at that moment he realized she wasn't wearing her trademark gloves. She wore the outfit that drove him crazy, with the pleated leather skirt and thigh highs, but her gloves were missing.

From her gloveless bicep, his eyes continued downward to her elbow, forearm, and then to her wrist. Her hand was in a sort of fist, with odd colors and distortions spreading apart her fingers. It finally clicked in his brain that those were the dark brown leather fingers of another glove. Reno's eyes lingered for a moment (several moments in his slowed down universe) until he followed the wrist that was so close to Tifa's, the familiar armor and bangles that covered the forearms of the person Reno had not expected to see at that moment.

Just as he had done with Tifa, Reno's eyes traveled up the other forearm, to another elbow, another bicep, and finally the metal shoulder pauldron he had spent the last few seconds praying wouldn't be there.

He felt his whole chest cave in at this point as he saw Cloud Strife walking through the center of town, holding hands with Tifa. Cloud did not seem to be in such a dour mood. Instead, he seemed like his head was up in the, well, clouds. There was an air of satisfaction about him, and though Reno's eye began to twitch, he couldn't see any hint of smugness in Cloud's expression. But there was pride.

Something then caught his eye in the afternoon-evening sun, something so close to Tifa it had to be part of her, but altogether confusing. There was a glint of sunshine that suddenly blinded Reno, and it was coming from the space between Tifa's left thigh and the unimportant people of Edge. A small starburst of white and gold light with rays that extended far beyond their middle, stabbing the space around and making its presence known.

Reno watched as the shape spun clockwise and then counter-clockwise, never making a full resolution, before coming into focus just as the shine burned his eyes enough to make them water.

An engagement ring. On her left ring finger.

Reno shot up to look at her, as her eyes had been trained on him as he put everything together. Her guilt wasn't caused by what happened with Cloud, it was because of what she was doing in this moment.

He closed his eyes and opened them to squint in her, shaking his head as if to do a double take and contorting his mouth into a shape that wanted to release the word, "What?" but couldn't find a voice to produce it.

But… yesterday… She was in his arms, she had chosen him. She was his. That all happened, right? He hadn't dreamt it? No, of course it happened. He still remembered the feeling of his arms around her as she sat on his lap under the hot Midgarian sun, surrounded by slums but never feeling more like he was in paradise. He remembered running his long, bony fingers over her back, kissing her neck and shoulders, the feeling of her sitting on him…

He had put that necklace around her neck, right? And he told her he loved her – he said it out loud – and she said it back. They were in love. What was happening?

And then she pursed her lips and began to shake her head with the response to his unspoken question: "I'm so, so sorry."

Her head was just slightly turned to her left, mid-shake, when his world stopped. Beyond the moments in time that slow down when we wish we could change something, beyond the moments we wished never happened, were the moments that seem to last a lifetime. Sometimes these moments can be happy, like a man seeing his wife for the first time on his wedding day. But for Reno, this was the moment that would drag on for eternity.

He suddenly gained the ability to move freely, at a normal speed, but it didn't matter. The rest of the world was standing still. Tifa's apologetic eyes were still focused on him even as her face was not, her hair in the early stages of reacting to her movement.

Everything was frozen. He looked around to see a man holding his PHS at a 45-degree angle, about to either answer a call or put it into his pocket. There was a woman standing near him, one hand on the handle of a stroller and supporting a toddler against her hip in the other. Across the street, a group of children stood mid-step, delicately preserved in the middle of running through the crowds as part of some game. The child in the front, a young boy, was glancing over his shoulder to make sure his friends weren't too close. Another was holding one hand as if holding a balloon, yet the string ended just above their fist; the child had not even noticed yet.

Reno's gaze lowered as he developed a horrific fear: Would he be forced to live in this second – the worst second of his life – for eternity? Was this second meant to last forever, torturing him until he couldn't take it anymore? What would he do, all alone but free to do as he pleased in a world that no longer moved?

He knew what he would do. He would pretend time hadn't stopped running. He would go and have scotch with Rude, since his partner never talked much anyway. He'd watch Tseng and Elena frozen in a conversation and try to make up the words to what they were saying. He would find Rufus Shinra and tell him _exactly_ what he thought of his boss' boss. He'd go see all the other Turks who were spread out around the world and see how they were living: Maur in Costa del Sol, Emma in North Corel, Juget in Icicle Inn, and everyone else. He'd spend his days searching for Veld until he found him.

But the first thing he would do if the world didn't start spinning again? He'd walk up to Tifa Lockhart and just hold her again. Nothing dirty, just wrap his arms around her and soak up her essence, inhale the scent of hibiscus and vanilla that he could never forget. He'd hold her until his legs gave out, and then he'd rest.

He stopped looking around at a world that seemed to have all come under a Stop spell simultaneously and again focused on Tifa, still midway through shaking her head to let him know how sorry she was.

And then their entire relationship played through his head.

_Tifa Lockhart raced toward Reno atop the Sector 7 pillar as gunfire rang out below them and fiery pieces of debris fell all around. She was beautiful, he had to admit, but he was on the job, and this woman was trying to prevent him from doing just that. When she had gotten closer to him, and he raised his electro-mag rod in the air poised to bring it down onto her pretty little… voluptuous… body, she swung her leg up, back, and around so that her heel connected with his jaw. In the second before, his eyes had quickly shifted downward, not in anticipation of anything, but involuntarily. Beneath her black leather miniskirt was a piece of white cotton covering the only other part of her that would be useful to him. This gorgeous woman he didn't know, who looked too innocent to know anything about weapons, had just rattled his brain inside his skull. In that instant, he wanted more – more of a beating, but specifically from her._

_He saw Tifa inside an opaque yellow pyramid, clawing at the smooth walls and beating on them with her fists, screaming his name as her face displayed that same anger and hatred she had as she lunged for him earlier._

_Tifa was standing not 30 feet away, among the forest at the edge of the clearing in Gongaga. Had she heard his conversation with Rude? Had she sensed his innermost thoughts and desires?_

_Reno pounded on the door to Seventh Heaven after being denied entry – again. Why wouldn't she let them in? They hadn't attacked her or her dumb friends in years. He could see her through the front window, casually serving the few customers inside, having completely tuned out of the Turks that stood out front. He was like an orphan standing on the street looking in on a happy family enjoying a nice meal._

_Reno sat on a barstool in Seventh Heaven, soaking in the atmosphere with a smug expression. She had finally let them in. Now he could try to make her mad so that he might see that expression and attitude he witnessed years ago on the pillar. He watched her float through the seating area, never standing in one place for very long, always cheerful and smiling – to the _other_ customers._

_Reno leaned over Tifa's bar and beckoned for the "barmaid," prompting her to scowl at him. She glared and sucked in her cheeks, rolling her eyes. She practically hissed her question to him. Her eyes widened with rage and her nostrils flared after he told her to get over the plate falling. There was a venomous glare when she seethed at him to "get out," looking like she was about to explode._

_Tifa had fallen to the ground, having been thrown down by an elfadunk that was about to charge at her to finish her off. Her eyes widened with fear as Reno stared at her before he killed the beast with his mag rod. He reached out to take her hand in his as she finally allowed him to help her up. Just the feeling of her hand in his own was enough to excite him._

_Tifa had her hands on her hips, scowling at him after he told her she had a "fine ass to save." The opening salvo for their continued banter. He told her she found him distracting. Her muscles tightened when he asked her back then where Cloud had gone. She ignored him when he told her he regretted dropping the plate._

_Tifa's fists were the first thing he saw from where he lay beneath a pack of attacking Kalm fangs. His shoulder touched hers as they stood back-to-back with Rude, surrounded by the beasts. He was surprised and winced just a bit when he felt her hands on his face as she cleaned the wound on his forehead, even though she still hated him. It had reminded him of being a kid again, loved and protected. He could see down her shirt as she helped him. He could see up her skirt when she allowed him to stitch her up. It was the first time he touched her in an inappropriate place, even though he knew it wouldn't lead anywhere._

_Tifa's face was red the day after she had a sex dream about him and tried to hide it while she worked. He pulled her into his lap and laughed as she struggled to get away from him. He sent his first text to her that night._

_Tifa was backed against the alley wall outside Seventh Heaven with her small wrists above her head encircled by Reno's long fingers. She struggled against him, a fear in her eyes he loved to see back then as he brought his face close to hers and asked about her dream, while his hips pressed against hers._

_Tifa was backed against the wall in the Shinra mansion basement, Reno's hands resting on the wall beside each of her shoulders. She grimaced as he tried out several nicknames for her. There was a little glint in her eye he swore he saw when he told her he thought about her while he was stuck in the basement of the old Shinra headquarters. He kissed her then and relished the feeling of her lips against his and his tongue in her mouth. He held her leg up to his hip with a hand on her thigh – right where he had given her stitches. She looked at him with horror when she realized he was turned on by their fights._

_Tifa sat on the floor in that mansion basement, her face contorted in a mix of embarrassment and pleasure as he held his mag rod to her abdomen. She screamed, trying to mask what should have been moans of ecstasy._

_She pinched his side, hard, as they sat atop the well in Nibelheim underneath a galaxy of stars. And then she pushed him off the well. After he scrambled back up, she softened, resting her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her, not knowing it was truly the beginning of his transformation. She pushed him again when he asked how long it would have taken her to come from the mag rod, though it wasn't enough to knock him off the well._

_He thought of the moment he saw her in the clothes she was wearing right now. She was behind the bar, taking their drink orders. She turned around to reach for their scotch when he saw the pleated leather skirt that barely covered her ass. And just a few inches lower, the tops of thigh-high stockings._

_Tifa was standing outside the door to Seventh Heaven, soaking wet, her hair matted against her head and the top of her dress completely transparent, revealing her nipples to him behind thin fabric. She grinned when she caught him almost admitting his feelings, talking about what he would do if he "really wanted to be with a girl." They fell back onto the floor of the bar when the door accidentally opened behind her as he kissed her. Reno was on top of her and they were both soaked. He ripped her dress open to finally see those beautiful, perfect breasts of hers. She yelled his name in embarrassment when he did that. He thought back to the feeling of that plump flesh in his hands and her nipples in his mouth. She tried to cover herself even though she had nothing to be embarrassed about. He remembered the anticipation of getting what he wanted. She stood in her bar; her breasts exposed over a torn dress that was also pulled up against her thighs. It was the last thing he saw that night._

_He saw the blood spurt out of her bullet wound after she had been shot and he wasn't able to stop it. She looked at him as she was about to pass out from the pain. She looked up at him, pleading with her eyes, hoping he'd sneak her out of the hospital. He saw her muscles tense when the doctor told her to avoid strenuous exercise._

_Reno lay with his arms wrapped around Tifa in her bed. Surprisingly, she moaned as his hands felt her breasts before moving to the waistband of her shorts and panties, slender fingers so close to reaching his prize before he ruined it by speaking and startling her._

_God, he remembered the way she ate that ice cream cone, torturing him with her words as she teased him with that frozen treat._

_Tifa was in a bikini, lying on a towel next to him at the beach. She rubbed sunscreen on his back and lingered just long enough to make him think there was something more going on with her. He put his arm around her as she sat on the bed in the Costa del Sol villa. He threw her back on the bed and hoped to jostle her bikini top out of place. He remembered kissing her, his own bare chest pressed against hers._

_Tifa was yet again backed against a wall, with Reno holding up one of her legs to his hip as his erection pressed against her panties. His hand was up her shirt and on her breast as he kissed her; passionate, raw, almost cruelly at times. He assaulted her earlobe with his tongue before moving down her neck._

_Reno clung to the wall outside Tifa's living room window as she lay on the couch looking at the picture he had sent her of his happy trail. She let him into the bar that night, and he took a chance to reach out and wrap his arms around her. Not in a sexual way, even though his head was buried in her chest. He thought of their spar in her empty bar, the exhilaration he felt when he pinned her to the ground and then to the wall. He snaked his fingers toward the edge of her panties as she wrapped a leg around his waist and he pressed his hips into hers. She moaned when he teased his thumb over her panties and his index finger slid along the edge. He looked down as she unbuckled his pants and ran her fingers over the line of hair that stretched from his belly button to his cock. He threw his head back when she wrapped her fingers around his member and began working his shaft. He saw the image of her, wearing nothing but a skirt, lying on the floor, her breasts covered in _him_._

_He thought back to the night he _finally_ got to experience what was underneath those panties. He felt her warmth, her tightness, her come on his fingers before he got to taste her. She moaned and mewled as he made her come with his tongue. Even then, she kept covering herself as if he were seeing her naked for the first time._

_He remembered waking up next to her and kissing her back and shoulders; never wanting to leave. She had a panic attack that day, and he held her shoulders to get her to repeat, "this shall pass." He thought back to the feeling of accomplishment he had when she came out of her panic attack. She fell asleep after, and he watched her shoulders gently rise and fall as she slept. He saw her pointing a finger at him as she scolded him about something. Her voice was shaky when she asked him to stay the night with her after the panic attack. She looked at him with surprise and lust when he walked down to the bar in nothing but a towel. He remembered how she doubled over with laughter when he wore a towel on his head and how she nearly fell over when he danced over to her. She was so beautiful when she laughed. He chased her around the room, across the bed, before she fell back onto it to catch her breath._

_She had a disarming smile when he mispronounced the ingredients of her soaps. She looked at him with mock annoyance when he kept putting his foot in his mouth as he told her to make herself prettier and stumbled over being with other women in the past. She swatted at him when he asked if she was going to buy condoms before they headed to the item store. She looked hurt when he told her he wouldn't stay a third night, even though she accepted it._

_He tucked her in when she went back to sleep after he arrived the next day. He remembered the photos of her and her AVALANCHE friends and how pretty she looked in all of them. She caught him snooping and asked her what his favorite place was that he had visited. Her eyes lit up when she talked about wanting to go to the Gold Saucer as a kid. She stood inside the lobby of the empty theater; her shoulders slumped as she realized it had been abandoned due to the monster attacks. He thought about the shock and horror on her face when he kicked the mu that attacked her._

_He remembered backing her up and lifting her onto the counter behind the bar, his hips between her legs before he asked her to brave the fiends to get to his place. He would _never_ forget using his mag rod on her until she succumbed to the pleasure. He was sitting on his couch and nearly spit out his drink when she appeared behind him wearing just his shirt and a pair of panties. She had seemed so nervous in his apartment, expecting to be kicked out at any moment. She fiddled with her fingers as she hung her head while wearing his oversized dress shirt. He saw the worried look on her face as she attempted to stop insulting him for the way she thought he lived._

_They were sitting on a bench underground in The Forgotten Capital. He placed his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. He tried to hide his action by pawing at her, which led to them discovering the secret passage. He would never forget the way she looked underneath the moonlight at Aeris' lake, the ethereal glow that made her skin look like pearl and the amber halo in her hair. He held her when she told him about the pain in her head and she looked up into his eyes with so much desire and sadness. He held her hand as they walked through the trees. He pressed her against the trunk of one of the dead trees and kissed her before he laid her on the ground and had his way with her, finally. He'd never forget the face she made in the throes of passion and ecstasy, writhing beneath him as he got everything he wanted at the time. An image of this gorgeous woman, completely naked before him, having just come three times after screaming his name over and over, would be forever etched in his brain. Afterwards, she intertwined her fingers with his and told her that he could use her first name now._

_He rocked her gently as she screamed in pain from the headaches, which returned as soon as she left him in the forest. She laughed at him when he was pretending to read a book in the library later that day. He saw her scoff at him when he held a book out of her reach, though she wasn't really mad. She cocked her head to the side when he told her he didn't usually date before he asked out after he flew her back to Edge because she was in too much pain to stay._

_He remembered watching Tifa fight her way through the Northern Crater. Reno wasn't turned on – that much – as he had to worry about his own skin, but watching Tifa in her element, not fighting him, was exhilarating in its own way. She made that same angry face she had when he first enclosed her in a pyramid back in Sector 7, even though this time he did it to protect her from a dragon. He remembered their brief conversation on the rock wall as she carefully navigated it._

_Reno was thrown back to the ground as Tifa emerged like an ungraceful mermaid from the Lifestream and landed on top of him. He still winced at the thought of holding her back as she tried to reach for Cloud when he nearly got sucked into Jenova._

_He remembered the way she smiled at him on the Highwind after they had escaped the Northern Crater, a sweet, gentle smile he had always loved. One that always made him feel like the only guy in the room. He looked into her eyes as her fingers brushed his own when she served him a scotch later that day. His expression dropped as he thought back to their fight in the back alley, when he thought he'd lost her. _

_Yet days later, she looked at him in his new, black Turk suit with some kind of lust that she tried to hide. She grinned when she threatened to cut her hair and saw how uncomfortable it made him because he couldn't just push her up against a building and ravish her, even though the conversation about her hair really turned him on. He saw the excitement in her eyes when she realized he was going to cook for her. He watched her face become red when he made a sexual comment in the grocery store. His head snapped to the side when she punched him in the face. He placed his hand atop hers when her fingers were on his chest after he burned himself and she tended to his wound. He saw her eyes roll back into her head with pure joy when the steak he cooked actually tasted good. He stood over her, next to her chair, flirting with her about putting her on his Grudge List. He remembered watching a movie as she curled up next to him and eventually fell asleep in his lap. He didn't remember what movie they watched. He held her in his arms and kissed her before she left his apartment the next morning, and he watched her walk away to the elevator._

_Reno hung over the scaffolding at the theater and kissed her, and caught her trying not to look at his exposed abs._

_He thought of how sad she looked when she told him she needed space. A week later, he saw her with raised fists once again as she turned around from the Sector 7 plaque and thought he was an enemy. She smiled at him while somehow still looking confused when he told her he had built the monument. He remembered how she beamed when she saw the necklace and the feel of the smooth skin of her neck when he put it on her. Reno sat with his arms wrapped tightly around Tifa, who was sitting on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist. He thought about how it felt to know that he was hers, forever and always. He remembered kissing her, holding her._

"_I love you, too," he couldn't hear the words but saw her pretty face as she said them, a distant memory playing in his head._

_He thought about her laugh, her smile, versions of which seemed to exist only for him. He thought again about her playfully pushing him atop the Nibelheim well and swatting his shoulder when he made a ridiculous comment. He again remembered chasing her around her bedroom with a towel on his head as she laughed so hard she couldn't stand up. He remembered his arms wrapped around her under the moonlight in the Forgotten Capital. He again saw her giving him a knowing glance and holding her index finger up as if to scold him. He thought back to just a day earlier, when he held her in the abandoned slums. These images in particular seemed to cycle through his mind several times before all that was left was the image of her in his lap, looking up at him with the sweetest look on her face he had ever seen, before she gently, peacefully, said she loved him, words that echoed through his mind, the only thing he had heard in what felt like hours._

"_I love you, too."_

"_I love you, too."_

"_I love you, too."_

Reno opened his eyes. The world had started moving again. He wouldn't have to live in this moment forever, but that also meant he would have to go through the rejection and the pain of losing her.

Tifa shook her head back and forth a couple times once time began again. Reno still had that confused look on his face, scrunched as though he were about to find out this was all a horrible joke. His mouth dropped open further and his breathing began to slow, not because he was calm, but because he now kept forgetting to breathe.

He ran a hand down his face and paused to rub his eyes with his thumb and index finger, briefly. He still couldn't believe this. Was this really happening? Had she really done this?

He didn't hear her explanation, and he didn't realize she had even disappeared into the crowd after mouthing the words, "I'm sorry."

He stood a few more minutes to try to get his bearings. This wasn't happening. This hadn't happened. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real.

_Back to earlier that day…_

Cloud was inside Seventh Heaven, down on one knee in front of Tifa. He had just poured his heart out to her and asked her to marry him. He now found it difficult to balance as he presented her with the engagement ring he had purchased a week earlier. Originally, it was just three diamonds, but he knew how much Tifa loved her birthstone and wanted to incorporate emeralds into the ring. He came to the sudden realization that his knee was not that flat, and he began to wobble on it as life seemed to slow down. He was waiting for her response, and it was the longest few seconds of his life. He kept his eyes focused on hers as she seemed to contemplate his offer. The tears seemed to have stopped flowing and she was just staring at him – not the ring.

Finally, he saw her choke back the breath she was holding and bring her hand to her mouth. Her eyes fluttered and the sparkle returned. He could tell she was smiling behind her hand. She started nodding her head before the words came.

"Cloud…" she said before removing her hand from her mouth. "Yes. Yes. Oh my God. Yes."

She saw nothing but Cloud in that moment. She _thought_ of no one but Cloud in that moment. In that instant, she didn't think about whether she was making the right choice or what the fallout would be. She just knew.

This was where she was supposed to be. This is who she was supposed to be with. She was wrong when she thought she'd have the same fears if she picked Cloud, because she didn't.

"Really?" he asked. She nodded even more furiously.

"Yes, of course!" she replied.

In this moment, Cloud was placing a diamond ring on her finger. In this moment, Cloud was standing up to wrap his arms around her and lean back to lift her off the ground. In this moment, there was nothing else in the world. No friends. No enemies. No bad memories. No fears. No grief.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face into his neck, crying happy tears this time. This is what she had wanted for almost a decade, from just after he left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER, to when she found him dying at that train station, during their entire journey to fight Sephiroth, when they built their life together in Edge, and even after he left. She couldn't pass on the thing she'd wanted more in her life than anything else.

Cloud was here, with her, telling her he would never leave her again and backing it up with the biggest commitment he could make.

She raised her hand up to inspect the ring. It sparkled at every angle as the light bounced off of it.

"There's an inscription," he said.

She looked up at him with questioning eyes, not wanting to ever take the ring off but wanting to know what was written within, what words Cloud had chosen to inscribe this item. She reluctantly pulled the ring off her finger and held it up to the light to examine the band. Cloud watched as her eyes crossed and she absentmindedly stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she twisted the ring to search for his inscription.

"I promise," it said, the words he'd said to her before he left Nibelheim.

Tifa put it back on her finger and again threw her arms around his neck. Cloud wrapped his arms around her again and rested his hands on the small of her back, pulling her close.

It was quite a while before reality hit Tifa. She had told Reno the day before that she loved him, that she chose him. He had assuaged the fears she had about entering a relationship with him. Cloud had now done the same, and she couldn't ignore the fact that when both men laid their cards on the table, the man she had loved since her childhood ended up winning. There was just so much history with Cloud. He was warm and familiar, yet flirtatious and exciting. They had seen the world together and then some, experiencing all of it _together_. He knew everything about her and she knew everything about him, yet there was still somehow mystery.

She couldn't imagine traveling the world with anyone else. He _was_ her whole world. Always had been. They had been apart a few times throughout their lives, but they always found their way back to each other.

And now? Now they would never be apart again.

She knew she now had to have a painful conversation with _Reno_, and she had no clue what to say, just as she had struggled to find the words to say to Cloud before he proposed. Would she have been able to go through with it even if he _hadn't_ proposed? Tifa thought that in the moment she probably would have chosen Cloud either way. They belonged together.

After they had basked in committed bliss – innocent, except for some very grateful kissing – Tifa finally brought up the subject.

"I have to tell Reno…" she said, her demeanor falling.

This was going to be the hardest thing she would ever have to do – to crush someone after giving them everything they wanted. She didn't think she could be so cruel. But Cloud reminded her of everything she had a year ago, everything she wanted her whole life, and she couldn't walk away from that.

"I'll go with you," Cloud said in a comforting way.

He didn't want to throw this in Reno's face. The truth was, he now felt bad for the Turk. Cloud knew how it he would have felt if Tifa had rejected him. It was a dark, painful existence, and he didn't wish that on anyone but Sephiroth. At that moment, Cloud thought he could sympathize with Reno, but he also knew that his presence would not seem commiserating at all.

"I'm supposed to meet him in front of the Meteor statue before I open the bar," Tifa said, her voice soft. "I don't want to go alone but I think seeing you would make everything worse."

"How about I walk you there but stay back in the crowd, just for support, then?" Cloud asked.

Tifa thought about it a moment as her expression depressed. She nodded. Knowing Cloud was nearby would give her the strength to get through it. She didn't worry that seeing Reno would make her change her mind _again_. Cloud offered her everything she could ever want. There were no more questions with Cloud, no fear in the pit of her stomach that someday he would leave if something else threatened the world or just because. Those fears were gone. He learned his lesson. They'd face everything together now.

Cloud placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead.

_Later…_

Tifa held Cloud's hand tight as they walked toward the center of town. The city was unusually busy for this time of day, but it just served to compound the situation. They said little now, the air heavy and disconsolate. They struggled to make their way through the crowd toward the monument, and Tifa just happened to glance at the ground as she found space to enter the roundabout, Cloud just slightly behind her. She hadn't smiled as they walked, both knowing this would be difficult. But it had to be done.

And then she saw his face.

Reno was on the other side of the roundabout, standing in front of the monument with that lopsided, toothy grin. His eyes, heavy lidded, yet still smiling. He held a bouquet of roses in his left hand and his expression lifted even higher when he first saw her, before the stark realization of what her face was saying had hit him.

Cloud had helped her come up with the words to say, telling her that if _he_ were in Reno's positions, he knew what he would want to hear and what he would need to hear.

"Even though you think it might make things hurt less, you can't leave a door open at all," Cloud had said. "Because honestly, part of the reason I would never have been able to love anyone else is because there was always a door open with you – I thought."

Tifa had taken his words to heart and worked out what she would say to Reno; how sorry she was, how she never meant for this to happen, and other things that probably wouldn't help him heal.

But when she saw his face at the monument she froze. All those words she had planned to say had just left her brain as if they had never been there at all. Standing just a few feet from her was a living reminder of everything she had done wrong in her life: Failing to stop the plate from falling, developing feelings for another man, acting on those feelings, thinking she would choose this man, and then changing her mind when Cloud proposed.

In that moment, she hated herself.

And when she saw his expression drop, she lost the ability to speak. She shook her head and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," hoping with all her might that her face could say all the things her lips could not: _You mattered. I meant it when I said I loved you. I'll never forget our time together. I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to hurt you. I hope you find happiness._

She let go of Cloud's hand and made her way through the traffic to slowly approach him, half hugging herself with one arm tightly gripping her opposite elbow.

"I'm so sorry…" she told Reno, her eyes locked on the ground.

"What happened?" Reno asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"I… just…"

"I know," he said, crossing his arms – still holding the roses – and looking away from her with a certain indignation on his face. "Strife."

"I never meant for any of this to happen," she offered.

She didn't want him to hate her, but she knew that was inevitable. He'd never loved anyone before, and she took that love and stomped on it like it meant nothing – even though it did.

Reno wanted to rage, to beg and plead and scream at her for hurting him. He wanted to tell her that what she had done was really shitty, really low, for some high-and-mighty AVALANCHE scum. He wanted to burn it all down.

But he didn't. A few months ago? Yeah, that's probably what he would have done. But now? He wanted to feel nothing. He wanted to take it all back. Having feelings had never served him well, so why feel anything, even anger?

He didn't move as she slipped her arms around his waist to hug him. He didn't put his arms around her, even though she smelled so good and he had just been thinking about holding her one last time.

She pulled back and wiped away tears.

"I'm so, so sorry," she said quietly.

Reno's mind went blank, the way he had trained himself before a particularly difficult mission, like dropping the plate. He spaced out, and only white noise seemed to occupy his thoughts. He said nothing to her in response and made no movements.

When he finally came out of his numbness, he looked around and saw that she was nowhere to be found, a ghost vanished into the evening, he dropped his arms to his side. The roses he held in one hand fell to the ground by his feet, several petals detaching and finding their way to the sidewalk, dead and broken, the obvious metaphor.

4:31 p.m.

"_I love you, too._"

**A/N: I'm soooo sorry for this chapter. This is the way it had to be, the way it always would be.**

**When I started this story, I knew how it began, that Tifa and Reno would start something, how Cloud would come back, and how it ended. Everything else filled itself in. I've read all your reviews (the nice ones that liked Reno) and my heart ached for you all. Stay tuned…**


	48. Epilogue: You're All Alone

**A/N: Rated M for language and sexual conduct. If you don't like sex scenes, please don't read them.**

**Oh my goodness. I thought I was going to get SO MUCH hate for that last chapter, but the reviews were rather positive. Wow.**

**I also think I should finally respond to the theory some readers had about the chapter where Tifa was sick. I guess I should have anticipated people thinking it was a sign of pregnancy because the only times characters in romance fics are sick is either pregnancy-related or the flu so another character can take care of them. But, um… I did NOT write morning sickness symptoms. Tifa and Reno had sex like three days before she felt ill. Morning sickness doesn't typically start for weeks after conception. Also, her symptoms were described as her feeling like she was "hungover." Never once was nausea or vomiting mentioned.**

**She was ill from lack of sleep and the insane fight she was in, as well as all the emotional turmoil in her life.**

**I'd also like to point out that the **_**only**_** thing I "admitted" to in that one author's note was that two months wasn't long enough to build a relationship while Cloud was gone. I did not admit to any of the numerous things reviewers have claimed I admitted to.**

Chapter 48:

It didn't happen right away. She needed a little time to recover and he was still determined to stick to his original plan of not rushing things, proposal notwithstanding.

They had kissed passionately after she accepted his proposal and stole glances from each other throughout the day until she brought up the conversation she needed to have. Things became sullen for a while then and after she met with Reno in the center of the city. She eased out of the guilt as the night at the bar wore on, with help from Cloud's flirtations. He was just as he had been before the headaches started, when he would brush against her as he passed, even if there was no need, and find ways to touch her.

He helped her keep the place clean and brought in more alcohol from the storage closet, taking care to kiss her on the cheek or place an open palm on her lower back whenever he could. By closing time she was feeling more like a woman happily engaged than a woman guilt-ridden over breaking a heart.

When the bar had closed and Tifa was cleaning dishes in the sink, a jaunty little smirk on her face, she felt herself pressed against the counter from behind. Lips hovered near her ear and hot breath soothed her neck.

"Excited about becoming Mrs. Strife?" a voice whispered in her ear as arms slipped around her waist.

She leaned her head back to rest it on his shoulder as she absentmindedly washed a dish. She remembered this feeling. Once, so long ago, it was all she craved. Now, she was craving it again. Tifa set the dish down in the sink and turned around in Cloud's arms. He clasped his hands behind her back and lowered himself so that his lips were just inches from hers.

"It's what I've always wanted," she replied, her voice low and breathy.

His lips pressed into hers as her arms reached up to wrap around his shoulders. The space between them closed as he deepened the kiss and tightened his arms around her. She let his tongue enter her mouth before gently retreating to rest her forehead against his.

"I want… to take it slow," she said, almost as a question.

Cloud nodded. "I understand," he said, though he wasn't sure if it was to give her time to get over Reno or because they still hadn't been physical since he recovered. He chose to believe the latter and started to psyche himself up for the torturous anticipation.

A certain part of him winced when she said those words, even as he had already planned not to push too far tonight. Tonight, he was just happy to be with her as she wore the ring he had given her.

He helped her finish breaking down the bar but turned toward the front door when she ascended the first step leading into the home upstairs.

"Cloud?" she asked, adorably confused. He turned back toward her. Was she sending mixed signals? "You can stay with me tonight, if you want."

"Of course, what was I thinking?" he asked, shaking his head before bounding toward her in a jovial manner. Tifa giggled.

"I mean, I still want to take things slow, but I think it would be weird if you spent the night you proposed back in your hotel," Tifa said as she climbed the stairs with Cloud close behind.

"Guess I took the 'let's take it slow part' a little too seriously."

Tifa turned to make a face at him and pushed his forehead back gently with two fingers.

"You're silly," she commented as she walked into the kitchen.

"And you're… perfect," he said wryly.

She looked at him over her shoulder with her lower eyelids raised incredulously.

"We're still taking it slow," she said, more teasingly this time.

"I know, I'm just telling the truth," Cloud said with his hands raised in the air to show her he understood.

"Want a drink?" Tifa asked, leaning over the kitchen island toward Cloud, her elbows close to her sides and causing her clasped hands to raise her chest.

"Sure, what do you have up here?"

"Your favorite," she said with a smirk as she turned to find her personal liquor bottles.

She poured several ingredients into a shaker and began to mix them with flair, as she usually did. The movement of her body was not helping Cloud's desire. He wondered if she was torturing him on purpose. He enjoyed it.

Tifa emptied the contents into a tumbler and slid it over to Cloud. It was a Cosmo Canyon, just like the second drink she ever made him – and the first one that he liked. He held it up to inspect it before placing it back on the counter and looking directly at Tifa.

"Beautiful, as always," he said with a bit of a mischievous grin.

Tifa blushed and poured herself a glass before sitting on one of the kitchen stools beside him.

"So, way back when, in the slums," she began, a little nervous but more curious, "the first time I made you one of these? And you said 'beautiful'? Were you really directing it at me or the drink? Be honest."

Cloud took a sip of the drink before responding. "Honestly? Both."

Tifa chuckled. "Really?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

"Yeah, your Cosmo Canyons are clean, not like some of the cocktails I've had."

"Gross," Tifa replied.

"Now I'll never have to drink anything made by someone else."

"At least until the wedding, unless you expect me to bartend."

"It would save us some money…"

Tifa pinched him in the ribs while clenching her jaw and scrunching her face.

"Ow!" Cloud said, feigning injury. "Is that your new limit break?"

Tifa shook her head and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

Tifa slept in Cloud's arms that night, his hand resting comfortably on her abdomen, enjoying the chance to be back in her life, even if it meant that someone else was suffering at that very moment.

_Weeks later…_

Tonight was the night, Tifa decided. Cloud had been so patient with her and had continued to take things slow, just as he had originally suggested. Even though they were engaged, he was still taking her out on dates like they were in the beginning of a relationship. They went to movies, Cid flew them to Costa del Sol for a weekend, they traveled to the chocobo farm to ride two of their own, they even played miniature golf (and were thrown out for hitting the balls too hard due to their strength). Cloud taught her how to drive Skoll and the two would leave Edge for the grassy hills beyond Kalm for picnics or to just get out of the city.

Of course, it was difficult to keep their hands off each other. There had been numerous times where their play nearly went too far. They had been with each other in every way except intercourse, and it was a struggle for both of them. When Cloud's tongue was swirling around her clit, Tifa wanted to grab him by the hair and lift him up so that he could enter her. On another occasion, Cloud's exposed erection came dangerously close to slipping past the side of her panties.

But she had decided long ago that if she were to end up with Cloud again, their first night had to be special. She wanted the buildup they never had as a couple and she knew what she planned to do on the night that it would all finally come together.

Cloud had been out getting some supplies for the bar while Tifa stayed back to clean during their day off. When she knew he'd probably be on his way home, she went upstairs to prepare.

Cloud entered the bar and immediately dropped what he had been carrying when he saw Tifa leaning against the bar wearing _that_ blue dress. Cloud gripped his heart and gave her a look of utter satisfaction. She reached her arms out to the sides.

"Still like it?" she asked.

He offered her an "mmhmm" before striding toward her and picking her up to toss her over his shoulder. She offered a weak objection by calling his name as he carried her up the stairs, certain her short dress was not covering her anymore. Cloud flipped on a light switch and closed the bedroom door behind him for reasons of which he wasn't sure since there was no one else in the building. He set Tifa upright and stepped back to look at her away from the potential of a confused customer knocking on the door to see if the bar was open. His face flushed as he didn't even bother to hide his excitement.

"You have _no_ idea how hard it was to resist the last time you wore this," he said, rubbing his jaw as he gawked.

Tifa's own cheeks turned red and she gave him an innocent look.

"Well, you don't have to resist this time," she said, her hands clasped behind her back.

Cloud's eyes shifted upwards to meet hers. "You sure?"

Tifa nodded and her smile widened as her eyes nearly closed.

Cloud was on her like a flash, ravishing her lips, then her earlobes, and then her neck until she fell back onto the bed with him on top of her. Their tongues clashed and Tifa managed to grip Cloud's gently between her teeth and lightly suck on it, causing him to howl in delight. His hands were greedy yet gentle, his hands being freed of their gloves as he stood looking at her once he set her down in her bedroom. He rubbed her arms and shoulders before he propped himself up on one arm as his other hand slowly made its way to her breast. It may as well be their first time under the Highwind, because even though they had explored each other in the past few weeks, he was nervous.

He felt like he did when they were under the Highwind, like he had something to prove. He knew she had always been _more_ than satisfied with their previous sex life, and their encounters over the past few weeks, but right here, right now, he felt inadequate. He was still comparing himself to Reno, who had slept with so many women he _had_ to know his way around a woman's body better than Cloud could ever imagine – even if Cloud knew _Tifa's _body better than anyone else.

Cloud also found himself torn between wanting to rip Tifa's clothes off and see her fully naked for the first time in 10 months or playing out a years-old fantasy he had to conceal during their stint in Wall Market.

He rubbed her breast with his hand, teasing her nipple with his thumb through the thin fabric of the dress. She nipped at his neck before he began to move down her body, kissing his way down to her breasts and pulling back the fabric to reach her taut nipples. He sucked on one while his thumb rubbed the other. Tifa arched her back toward him as he continued to grapple with the decision to release the halter dress or leave it on.

When he heard her moan his decision was made; he had to see her. He kissed his way back up to her neck and reached behind to untie her dress. He pulled the halter pieces down to release her breasts before burying his face between them, kissing her scar as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Cloud knew that if he didn't get her going first, he might not last long enough to satisfy her. He couldn't remember the last time he had sex with Tifa. No, that wasn't true. He knew exactly how long it had been: 10 months, 3 days, and 2 hours. Yes, she had gotten him to climax multiple times over the past few weeks, but not from this. He feared that once he was inside her he'd want to explode – the same fear he had under the Highwind.

He kissed his way further down her body along the line of her abdomen, stopping at her belly button and letting his tongue tickle her as his eyes glanced up toward her own, before making his way down to where her dress had folded. Tifa continued to moan in pleasure at his slow movements and lifted her hips off the bed when he began to pull on her dress. Cloud slipped it down her legs and off the bed, keeping his attention on the nearly naked woman in front of him wearing nothing but a blue thong, which he felt was too much clothing.

He sat back with his knees on either side of her to remove his own shirt before leaning back down to kiss her, enjoying the feel of her breasts against his chest. She bit his bottom lip lightly and he purred into her mouth. She clutched his hair in her hands and rolled so that she was on top and straddling him. He couldn't refuse the view.

He ran his hands over her breasts as she fumbled with his belt buckle and pants. He lurched forward to wrap his arms around her and kiss her as she rolled her hips over his, feeling his erection pressed against the thin fabric of her panties.

In one quick motion Cloud flipped over so that he was back on top of her, dropping Tifa back onto the bed so that she bounced, a little surprised at Cloud's sudden movement. She hoped this "take-what's-his" attitude would continue.

Cloud stood off the bed to remove his own pants and boxers, never taking his eyes off Tifa, who laid on the bed with her arms bent above her head and her knees raised. She looked exactly as she did in his fantasies of her he had needed to keep him going while he was away, spread out on the bed looking up at him with _that_ face, needing him, wanting him.

She studied his naked form, the lean muscles she had missed so much while he was away, the battle scars that held an untold number of stories from their past adventures, the look on his face that said he wanted only her. She sighed, her breasts heaving off the bed as their eyes locked for a moment, each one daring the other to make the next move.

Cloud faltered first, even as Tifa raised herself up to rest on her elbows. He moved back on top of her and kissed her passionately, forcefully. He then kissed and nipped his way down to her waist, letting his hand gently slide up her thigh to reach the side of her thong and begin to pull it down. Tifa writhed from anticipation alone, aching for Cloud to enter her. She wanted to reach up and grab his head to shove his face into her, but she waited.

Cloud let his thumb trail along Tifa's bottom lip, requesting entry. She kissed the pad and sucked lightly on his digit as his nose tickled her clit. As she was concentrating on his thumb, she finally felt his tongue against her entrance, lapping at her with the skills of a man who truly knew _her_, and not just women in general. Cloud remembered what Tifa liked, but he didn't want to just fall into the familiar with her. He worked her as she arched her back and grabbed at the sheets, her hands starting to go numb. Once he saw her shaking out her hands to get feeling back, he knew he had her.

He removed her thong the rest of the way and sat up to make eye contact. Tifa watched as Cloud nudged her thigh with his knee to tell her to spread her legs wider. Tifa complied, and Cloud settled in between her legs, steadying his cock as he prepared to enter her.

He hesitated.

"You're sure you're ready?" he asked, his voice low and breathy. Tifa nodded.

"I want this," she responded.

Cloud rubbed the tip of his cock against Tifa's entrance, watching her reaction as she squirmed to the touch, before slowly sliding inside her until he was at the hilt. His eyes rolled back into his head for a moment at the feeling. Tifa smiled and closed her eyes as she felt every inch of Cloud fill her up. He had always seemed to fit her perfectly, like some kind of sexual puzzle piece. Just having him inside her brought a jolt of heat to her belly, and she wrapped her arms around his neck when he leaned down over her.

He began slow, getting her used to his cock again, watching over her as she writhed beneath him. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he rolled his hips. She let out soft moans as he picked up the pace. He bent her legs back so that her knees were beside her ears so he could get as deep as possible. He watched her eyes roll back as she moaned louder, approaching her first orgasm of the encounter.

"Oh, Cloud," she breathed as he continued to grind his hips into hers, her walls tightening around him.

Cloud leaned down so his mouth was next to her ear, whispering, "get on your knees."

The boldness of his request sent her over the edge. She cried out his name and clung her powerful legs to him. Tifa dutifully complied, not used to Cloud being so dominant in the bedroom. He had always been powerful but polite, rough but not to the point of degrading her. She had to admit his forcefulness was turning her on.

Cloud licked his fingers and brushed them along her entrance before sliding back into her, his hips stopped by her ass. He picked up the pace and smacked her ass, the sound of skin slapping against skin the only sound in the room other than their moans.

Cloud thrust into her as deep as he could, hard enough so that Tifa had to hold onto the headboard to keep from being slammed into it.

Tifa knew she was about to burst again, but she wanted to make sure tonight was extra special for Cloud, so she pulled herself off him and turned to push him on his back before straddling him and sliding down on his cock. Cloud looked at her, stunned by her own aggressiveness, but his head quickly snapped down onto the bed as the pleasure from her movements washed over him. He brought his hands up to rest on her hips, moving her up and down on his cock as he bucked his hips against her to intensify the position.

Tifa lowered herself all the way down his cock and began rolling her hips forward. She leaned back, placing a hand on the bed between Cloud's legs to steady herself as she grinded against him. Cloud had to hold back when he felt Tifa tighten around him painfully as hot liquid ran down his hip bones and onto the bed. He opened his eyes to watch Tifa's breasts bounce as she continued to ride him, knowing he couldn't hold on any longer. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, crisscrossing his legs underneath her and quickened his own pace.

Tonight was not supposed to be about himself, he thought as he finally released into her. _She_ had nothing to prove, _he_ was the one who had to show her he could satisfy her. He held her tight as his load filled her up and spilled out of her onto the bed beneath them. They were both sweaty and exhausted, collapsing against each other as Cloud finished.

"You're amazing," he breathed into her ear as he panted.

"No, you are," she said back as she attempted to catch her breath.

_Meanwhile…_

It had been weeks since any of the Turks had seen Reno. He first disappeared the night he was supposed to meet Tifa at the Meteor monument in the center of Edge. His coworkers were concerned when he didn't come in to work suddenly, but they assumed the couple had run off somewhere to spend some time together away from the rest of the world. They knew about the necklace and figured Reno had given it to her.

The first few days, even the first week, they thought this was the case, even though Reno didn't reach out to say anything (he never missed work before) and he didn't answer his phone or text messages.

The Turks became worried after they saw multiple stories in several tabloids and papers about Cloud and Tifa's engagement. "Saviors of the Planet to Finally Marry," one headline read. It was then the Turks realized that Reno was not in some remote, romantic location with Tifa. Even then, they figured he just needed time to himself, since he had never been in a relationship before. He may have been an adult (who acted like a child) but in relationship years he was a teenager.

So, they paid attention to the local media and police reports for any evidence that he was lashing out in his grief. As the weeks passed, they broadened their attention to international media outlets and reports to make sure he wasn't involved in anything globally. Nothing seemed like his signature.

Phone calls, text messages, and even personal visits were ignored and eventually they started receiving the "sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service" message. Finally, Rude had enough and went to Reno's apartment to break down the door. He didn't know what he expected to find in Reno's apartment, the redhead might be distraught but Rude didn't think he had it in him to commit self-harm. Rude picked the lock to Reno's apartment and pushed open the door, fearing the worst.

The apartment looked unchanged from the last time Rude had been over. The furniture was still upright and in place. Nothing was broken or shifted. It was clear Reno still lived here, even if a light coating of dust could be seen on the dining room table. The second thing Rude noticed was the smell. It didn't smell of decaying flesh – as a Turk, he was intimately aware of how a dead body smelled. He made his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge to find the answer to his question. Leftovers and milk had not been thrown out for God only knows how long.

Rude closed the refrigerator door to continue searching. On the coffee table, an empty lowball glass sat, still hugging the residue of the scotch that had filled it weeks earlier. Next to the glass was a black velvety jewelry box sitting open to show a displaced diamond and emerald necklace. Rude's eyes narrowed at the jewelry as he sighed heavily and shook his head.

He then turned back toward the bedroom as his expression dropped. He half expected the apartment to be completely cleaned out when he arrived, but seeing that the furniture was still here gave him a little hope. The bald Turk made his way toward the bedroom slowly, worried about what he might find. He stopped in the doorway to assess his surroundings.

The bed was fitfully unmade, which normally wouldn't mean anything but now seemed to suggest Reno must not be living here anymore. If his maid were still coming, the bed wouldn't be so disheveled and there wouldn't have been a coating of dust on all the wood furniture.

Rude scanned the room slowly. There was a pile of clothes on the floor as there usually was between cleaning. One of Reno's nightstands appeared to have been tossed out of place, but everything else looked pretty normal until he glanced toward the desk and the closet. The closet doors were open but all of his suits were hanging up. The closet otherwise appeared empty. Rude searched the desk and dresser drawers – empty. All of his non-Turk clothes (of which he had few) were missing, as well as all his weapons and ammunition.

Rude wandered into Reno's bathroom to see that it, too, seemed to be in order. He rifled through the medicine cabinet to find that Reno's toothbrush, toothpaste, and various other things a man would typically have in his bathroom were all still there. A bath towel laid crumpled on the floor near the sink. The toilet lid and seat were up. Various items were scattered around the sink – toiletries, cologne, deodorant, etc.

Rude returned to the bedroom and noticed something out of the corner of his eye near the bed. Something he missed earlier when he was really just looking for signs of Reno himself. It was where the overturned nightstand was supposed to sit. Rude walked across the unforgiving Berber carpet to examine the floor. Some of the carpet had been ripped up to reveal a floor safe, which was open and… empty.

Rude fell back on his rear as he put it all together. Reno wasn't just hiding somewhere in the world to lick his wounds. He was never coming back.

_Six months later…_

"How do I look?" Tifa asked Yuffie as she stood in front of a floor-length trifold mirror.

Her hair was pulled up into a large, loosely curled bun at the nape of her neck with small decorative lily charms wrapped around it. A long white veil flowed from the bottom of the bun and onto the floor behind her. Tifa ran her hands over the front of her wedding dress, a strapless fitted bodice with a mermaid cut that hugged her body in all the right places without being scandalous. The dress itself had a floral lace pattern with beading and a lengthy train. Her arms were covered with matching detached sleeves that pointed down the back of her hands without reaching her fingers. She was breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling noticeably as she inspected herself.

"I didn't think it was possible for you to get more gorgeous," Yuffie said sweetly, causing Tifa to smile. "Cloud's going to lose his shit."

Tifa laughed. She knew Yuffie wouldn't be able to remain ladylike for long.

The ceremony was held in Aeris' church so that she and Zack could attend. Cloud and Tifa had visited the church numerous times since they got back together to talk to their old friends and give them the good news. Aeris helped Tifa plan the wedding, while Zack and Cloud talked about guy stuff. The living couple worked to repair the pews and some of the other furniture in the church so that it could accommodate a wedding.

The ceremony was kept relatively small. Yuffie was the maid of honor and Cid was Cloud's best man, since it was his advice that helped Cloud win Tifa back. They had wanted all of AVALANCHE to be part of the wedding party but realized that would mean almost no guests to actually watch. Marlene walked down the aisle dropping pink rose petals and took her seat next to Barret in the front row along with Elmyra. Vincent and Reeve sat in the opposite pew along with Nanaki, the ring bearer.

Shera watched as Cid stood beside Cloud, admiring how much the two men had grown up in the past few years. Both dressed in dark blue tuxedos with silver vests, two blonde men who previously had no clue how to be in a relationship, one now married and the other about to be.

Tifa had learned about Reno's disappearance from his coworkers, who had begun visiting Seventh Heaven again in the hopes he'd return there someday. With him gone, though it pained her to know she had driven him so far away, she felt comfortable inviting the other Turks to the wedding. Rude, Freyra, Tseng, and Elena sat in the second row, happy for the couple but silently worrying for their comrade.

When news of the wedding spread, Tifa was contacted by Marle, the woman who helped her when she was brought to the Midgar slums, who said she had recently moved to Edge. To Tifa's delight, Marle was also able to contact Zangan, who sat with her as they watched the ceremony. Ester from the Gold Saucer was there, as well as Pricilla from lower Junon, though the younger girl shared her mock dismay that _she_ was not the one marrying Cloud. Leslie Kyle and his wife also accepted an invitation, as did Andrea Rhodea, who also helped the couple choreograph their first dance.

Cloud's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Tifa entered the church and began walking down the aisle. His first thought was that he had never been so happy in his life, and that she had never looked more beautiful. His second thought was that he wanted the ceremony to be over so that he could be alone with his wife.

He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding in when Tifa approached the alter and he took her hands in his. He was so focused on her that he really didn't pay attention to what the officiant was saying, but he did hear him ask if Cloud took Tifa to be his wife.

"I do," he responded, never taking his eyes off Tifa.

"I do," Tifa said when she was asked the same question, looking at Cloud through glistening eyes as she tried to hold back happy tears.

_Later…_

The sound of a cork popping out of a bottle of champagne signaled the beginning of the reception. Cloud and Tifa had their first dance; others joined in, even Rude. They cut the cake, smearing it in each other's faces. Barret "danced" with Marlene by swaying and holding her in his strong arm as she slept later in the evening. Tifa threw the bouquet. Elena caught it – by shoving Yuffie out of the way.

Pricilla was able to convince Cloud to slow dance with her for one song, and had to be pried away from him after. Nanaki scarfed down a piece of cake to the horror of some onlookers before sitting back on his haunches and licking his chops. Tifa shared a dance with Zangan and caught up with Marle and everyone else she hadn't seen in so long.

And in the end, she and Cloud collapsed in their bed to sleep before leaving for their honeymoon in Costa del Sol the next day.

_Meanwhile…_

The three remaining Edge-based Turks had learned to move on without their second-in-command. Rude was promoted to replace Reno but he refused. Tseng moved forward with the promotion anyway, though Rude, God bless him, still held out hope that Reno would return some day, that his partner and best friend hadn't just abandoned him because he was heartbroken. The Turks were a family, and you didn't abandon family.

Very few Turks had ever managed to leave the job alive. Vincent Valentine had, but he wasn't exactly the best example, given what led to his leaving and how it had left him only partly human. Actually, he was the only example. Veld had to be presumed dead in order to leave the organization, and the underlings that had worked with Reno and Rude before Sephiroth's return "retired" when shit hit the proverbial fan, but they were rehired once Rufus was found in the Shinra basement after the calamity.

Elena tried to comfort Rude as best she could, continuing to search out-of-town papers and news reports for signs of where Reno may have fled and offering Rude platitudes to give him hope, even if she herself didn't think they'd ever see Reno again. A Turk disappearing was one thing; a Turk disappearing with their getaway bag was something else. Reno was going where he wouldn't be found and taking steps to ensure he stayed hidden. Elena knew that if they ever saw him again, he wouldn't be the Reno they knew anymore.

The three tried to hide Reno's disappearance from Rufus for as long as they could, but eventually the big man came asking – demanding, really. Tseng gave as vague an explanation as he could, while leaving the door open that Reno could return at any minute. Rufus glared and screamed and offered one of his typical harangues about the red-haired scoundrel that dared to abandon Shinra.

Whenever any of the Turks were out of town on assignment, they looked for anyone who might possibly be a transformed Reno. He wanted to cease to exist, so they assumed he must have made a drastic physical change. They inspected anyone that matched his height, since that was something he couldn't change. Every time they thought someone may be him, they found out something about them to disprove the theory. Tseng had informed the Turks scattered throughout the world that they were to keep an eye out for a physically altered Reno. He didn't tell them why Reno had gone AWOL, as he felt the real reason, without any context, might diminish Reno in their eyes. He did, however, let them know Reno was not a danger nor was he in danger.

And then the call came.

Tseng, being Tseng, had come to grips with Reno's departure rather quickly, at least outwardly. Elena, being Elena, knew that Reno vanishing left a hole in Tseng's heart just as Veld's leaving had. She would catch glimpses of Tseng, in moments where he thought Elena wasn't watching, slumping his shoulders or looking out the window as if Reno would just be trotting up the sidewalk down below. She'd found newspaper clippings of various events around the world that she assumed Tseng thought might involve Reno – a helicopter crash near Gongaga, a smashed business in Mideel, various reports of drunks acting stupidly, and others. She also found a police scanner in his nightstand drawer.

Rude became quieter than ever. He thought he'd seen Reno at his lowest years and years ago, and he _never_ expected him to up and vanish over a woman. He had seen Reno fall fast and hard for Tifa, however, and all he could do was hope his friend eventually found peace, even if that peace never led him home.

It was early one morning, when all three Turks were in their office at the new Shinra headquarters. The office that felt just so darn empty even though just one desk was unoccupied. Granted, it was the largest desk in the room outside Tseng's office, but still it sat like a jester constantly laughing at their loss. No one dared touch the desk after they inspected it for clues. It was now covered in dust that cut through their hearts whenever they happened to glance in its direction, a reminder that they had failed their friend and colleague when he needed them most. Not since Veld left had any Turk felt so lost or feeble.

Tseng received calls regularly, usually from Rufus demanding something or other. But on this particular morning, everyone for some reason knew the ringing in Tseng's office was not only not Rufus, but something important.

Rude and Elena, naturally, only heard Tseng's part of the call, but they definitely perked up as soon as he answered.

"Hello?" he asked. "Oh, Juget. Everything alright in Icicle?"

"_Icicle's fine. Tseng, there's someone here I think you should see_," Juget responded.

"Really? I'll be there tonight. Thank you, Juget."

Tseng hung up the phone and laced his fingers under his chin to gather his thoughts. Rude and Elena looked at each other before leaning to look into Tseng's office for any hint as to the nature of the conversation. Tseng said nothing, so they each stood up and entered his office timidly.

"What's in Icicle?" Elena asked, crossing her arms expectantly.

Tseng didn't so much as glance toward either of his subordinates. Instead, he simply leaned back in his chair and placed his hands on either armrest while continuing to stare forward.

"I think Juget found him," he said.

"Shouldn't I be the one to approach him?" Rude asked with a disapproving grunt.

Tseng let his eyes wander toward the bald Turk.

"No, I think you're too close to the issue on this one," he responded.

"Why can't we all go?" Elena asked.

"It would look like an ambush," Tseng said, almost as a scold. Elena huffed. "No, I'm going to take care of this myself."

Tseng stood up without a hint of panic or frustration and simply gathered his things to leave.

"I'll let you know how it goes," he said as he walked out the door, leaving Rude and Elena behind to comprehend the situation.

Rude was a little hurt that Tseng hadn't asked him to go, since Reno was his best friend and he knew more than anyone what it was like to have an unrequited love for Tifa Lockhart. Rude did not, however, question why Elena wasn't sent.

Tseng arrived in Icicle late in the evening and met up with Juget to learn what she knew. She looked just as she had back when Veld was in command, with long, dark ashen hair and an intense, almost manly stare despite her delicate, feminine features. She greeted Tseng as she would anyone else, with a short, efficient greeting before immediately divulging what she had seen.

"I was in Modeoheim for my meeting regarding the oil contracts," Juget began, her tone brusque. "I stopped in a local bar afterward, which was apparently where a group of local loggers frequent. There's a lumber mill nearby."

Tseng nodded along and gave no indication of what he was feeling.

"Most of the loggers were large, burly men, but there was one among them who didn't fit," she continued. "He looked sickly, yet he wasn't being teased for his size. In fact, he didn't seem to care about anyone else and mostly kept to himself during the night. But they did try to engage him."

"What did the man look like – the one who avoided the loggers?" Tseng asked.

"He was tall and too thin, dark reddish brown hair, a beard…"

"That _could_ be him, but what made you think that?"

"When I first had my suspicions, I tried to get a look at his face, but he was always looking the opposite direction. I waited him out until closing time. I could swear he knew I was there and was avoiding my direction, so I left but waited outside the building and around the corner," Juget explained. "He came out and I was able to see his face only briefly. He had dark eyes, but underneath, on his cheekbones, was just a slight discoloration, probably not noticeable to anyone who didn't know to look, but I think he had his tattoos removed."

Tseng blinked at this information. Reno refused to tell most people why he had those tattoos (Tseng knew) but he was also really attached to them beyond the physical. He'd been beaten and broken before, and the first question he'd ask if his face needed to be put back together was whether the tattoos were intact.

Tseng wanted to get a better look at this man, still not completely convinced it would be Reno. They had traveled for leads before, and each one turned out to be a dead end. There was a man in Mideel whom the Turks really thought was Reno for a while, but after Freyra tailed him for about a week, they came to the conclusion that it was just a pale man with red hair who became afraid that he was being stalked. There were a few alleged sightings in Junon, too, but those also went nowhere. Maur thought he saw Reno in Costa del Sol, but it turned out to be an unfortunate doppelgänger.

This was the first time Tseng had traveled to follow up, though. Juget hadn't provided any information over the phone that would suggest this was really Reno, but Juget hadn't called in a single tip in six months and had never been one to get overhyped. Of all the scattered Turks, she was the most level-headed and perceptive, so Tseng trusted her judgement.

"Do you know where he is now?" Tseng asked.

"At The Lumberjack in Modeoheim," Juget said. "I've gone back every night since my meeting to try to learn what I could about the man, but all I know is that he showed up a while back, but no one knows how long because apparently there's a quick turnaround rate for loggers in the area. His name is Axel but other than that he has given no personal details and doesn't socialize much with the other loggers. Apparently, something about him freaks them out, though. He's there every night with them."

"Thank you, Juget, I'll see what I can do," Tseng said simply, his voice free of emotion.

Juget left him outside Icicle Inn, where Tseng paid for a room for several days – just in case. He didn't expect Reno to quickly accept his pleading to return, if the man Juget saw was even him. He set his travel bag down on the bed in the room and left to find The Lumberjack.

The bar was just outside Modeoheim, on the road leading back to Icicle Inn where it branched off toward the lumber mill. It was a seedy little dive bar, with wood-paneled walls and floors that were scuffed beyond repair. Dartboards hung on one wall while numerous wooden and lighted signs for branded beers adorned the others. An L-shaped counter sat in front of the bar, and two bartenders worked to serve customers. One was a short, rotund woman with frizzy orange hair who looked like she had been bartending for decades and had no desire to put in the effort for tips anymore. The other was an average-sized man who was roughly the same age, who appeared to be the owner of the establishment.

Tseng scanned the room at the group of loggers who were spread out around the seating area. A group of them were sitting at one of the tables playing poker, shouting and cheering as they conversed. Others were standing around chatting about this or that, while a few others played darts or drank together at the bar. Juget had been right that they were all burly men – of varying heights – but they looked exactly how Tseng would imagine a logger to look.

He quickly found the man who stood out. He was dressed like the others, in a plaid flannel shirt and jeans with work boots. He was severely underfed looking, however, and Tseng wondered how the man would be able to work such a job if he were not, in fact, Reno of the Turks. No normal human being had such strength in such a slim package.

Tseng slowly made his way to the bar, receiving some confusing stares from the other men in the bar who weren't used to seeing someone in such an impeccable suit in a place like this. Juget had left out the part where she received those same looks, along with a whole lot of pickup lines and catcalls. She quickly had the men in their place, however, winning all their money in poker, kicking their asses at darts – and drinking – and then literally kicking their asses when they were pissed. All the while, the man she suspected to be Reno never looked up from his drink.

Thankfully, the men didn't yell anything at Tseng to give away his existence, somehow knowing this man was far more important than his presence suggested. He approached the stool next to the one where the thin man sat with his legs spread wide beneath the counter. The sides of his knees rested against the bottom of the bar and invaded the space of the stool next to him where Tseng sat. The leader of the Turks didn't mind, as he had more important things to deal with than someone else's manners.

The thin man made no indication that he even registered another human being had sat next to him, taking another long sip of cheap whiskey. Tseng didn't look over at the man next to him – that would be too obvious. Instead, he used one of his Turk techniques to study the man out of the corner of his eyes.

The man's flannel shirt was rolled up at the sleeves to reveal the white thermal Henley shirt he wore underneath, with the sleeves rolled over those of the flannel. In a mark against the man's alleged identity, Tseng noticed his Henley shirt was fully buttoned even if his flannel shirt was not. Even then, only the top two buttons of the flannel shirt were detached. Tseng would have assumed a properly buttoned shirt would not be something Reno could adopt, even if he was trying to disappear.

The thin man had dark auburn hair and a matching, full beard. He _could_ have had Reno's wild, untamed mane, but his hair was slicked back with some kind of pomade, giving him a swoop in the front instead of Reno's bangs. His eyes were a very common brown, nondescript, forgettable, though there was an animalistic intensity that seemed to be reaching for the surface. The marks on his cheekbones looked like he may have been injured as a child or were the result of aging. His face was gaunt, his cheeks hollow. His expression matched.

"Strange weather we're having, hmm?" Tseng said out loud to no one in particular, just to see how the man reacted.

There was no visible flinch or tensing to speak of. The thin man simply raised his glass toward his lips, grunted in a gruff, tortured manner, as though he regularly gargled gravel, and took another sip of whiskey.

Tseng continued to look forward but narrowed his eyes. If this man were, indeed, Reno, he was doing a damn good job of playing his new part. The female bartender waddled over to Tseng and asked for his drink order.

"Your finest scotch," Tseng said, politely.

The woman recoiled at him like he had just asked to be served the blood of a jumping. Her head actually moved back a few inches from her collar bone as she flared one nostril and twisted her expression.

"Where do think you are? Junon?" she sneered.

Tseng leaned forward on his elbows. "How about your finest whiskey?"

The woman still looked at him like he had two heads but relented.

"I don't know if it's fine, but it'll get ya drunk," she scowled.

"That'll do," Tseng said. Just as the woman turned to retrieve his order, Tseng spoke up again. "And bring one for my friend here," he said, motioning to the thin man.

The man didn't turn to look at Tseng but did nod his head and mumble a guttural "thank you."

"You been here long?" Tseng asked the thin man once their drinks had arrived.

"A while," the man responded in a tone that made it clear he was not looking for conversation.

"I just got in from Edge, might be here a while," Tseng said, pressing on. "The bars up here sure aren't like those in Edge though. Ever been to Edge?"

"Can't says I have," the man uttered.

"Really?" Tseng asked, feigning incredulity. "You should go sometime. Ever hear of a bar called Seventh Heaven? It's pretty famous."

Tseng wasn't sure, but he thought he detected a slight tensing of the thin man's shoulder at the mention of Tifa's bar.

"Never heard of it," the man replied.

"Oh, it's great. The owner was one of those people who saved the planet years back – the pretty one."

Again, Tseng couldn't be quite sure, as he was sitting to the right of the thin man, but he thought he saw the lashes of the man's left eye twitch.

"Reno?" Tseng asked, just to see if he could get a bigger reaction.

The man didn't flinch but did finish the last of the drink Tseng bough him.

"Buddy, I don't know who you're lookin' for, but you got the wrong guy," the man said, easing up from the bar and reaching in his back pocket for some gil. In a move that would have seemed odd to anyone else, the man used a napkin to wipe the rim of the glass and the outer portion where he had held it.

The man then dropped the gil on the counter and nodded to the bartender before turning to leave the bar. Tseng considered going after him but thought better of it. If that was Reno, he knew Tseng was here. Pushing the situation could make him run. If Tseng let the man think he was convinced he had the wrong guy, maybe he'd stick around.

Before either of the bartenders came back to Tseng he had collected the thin man's glass and hidden it in his jacket pocket to analyze later, just in case he were able to pull any fingerprints or DNA off of it. Tseng also dropped a stack of gil – more than enough for what he ordered – on the counter before disappearing from the bar before anyone noticed.

He looked from side to side when he exited, just in case the thin man was still in sight. He calmly walked back to his hotel room and called Juget to get the glass analyzed. She came over with a specialized kit – another nifty Turk gadget – and found a couple partial prints on the glass. She swabbed the rim and inside of the glass for DNA as well and sat back to wait for the portable computer to analyze.

"Do you think it's him?" she asked her superior.

"I don't know for sure, but I think it might be," Tseng replied, crossing his arms as a far-away look grazed his face.

Juget was not one for conversation, so the two sat in silence until the computer alerted them it had finished. Juget read through the analysis without her expression changing.

"The partials match, but it's inconclusive," she said dismissively. "Fingerprint analysis is always shaky, but a partial match is even shakier. It looks like there was no DNA left in the glass."

Tseng processed the information and sighed. It was something, but not much.

"I'll try again tomorrow night," he said.

Juget nodded and left the room, taking the kit with her. Tseng sat down on the edge of the bed with his fingers intertwined and resting between his knees. If this man were Reno, the heartache had certainly taken a toll on him. Everything that made Reno, Reno, was gone – the fiery red hair, the smirk, the smug sarcasm, even his tattoos. Tseng always knew that if Reno had to disappear he would go full-steam ahead with a transition, he just didn't think it would ever actually happen.

Tseng went back to The Lumberjack the next night to find the man sitting at the bar again. Perhaps he felt he had done enough to dissuade Tseng from thinking he was Reno – or maybe he really wasn't. Tseng again sat in the stool next to the man and again ordered a glass of whiskey for each of them.

"Buddy, I don't know what you want but I don't swing that way," the man said after Tseng ordered.

"How long you gonna keep this up?" Tseng asked with a hint of impatience after a brief silence had fallen between the two men.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about," the thin man said before taking a sip of the drink Tseng had ordered for him.

"How'd you get those scars?"

"Damn jemnezmy got me with her nails," the man replied rather quickly.

"Hmm."

Tseng focused on his drink for a little bit, preparing his next move. He wanted to wrap this up quickly, knowing he didn't have much time before the man, if he were Reno, would skip town to avoid being discovered. If he couldn't get him to answer in the bar, he'd have to be tougher outside, and he didn't want to mess up his nice suit with snow.

"You know, I saw Tifa the other day," he said. It was cruel, but necessary.

"Who?" the man asked.

Tseng was beginning to think that perhaps this man wasn't Reno. He again focused on his drink to let the statement fester, should this man actually be Reno. Tseng's hunches were usually right, and he definitely had a hunch about this man, even if his answers pointed to the contrary. They were almost convincing, actually. But every now and then Tseng saw a crack, barely discernible, like an emotion from Rude.

Several minutes passed as Tseng left the man next to him alone. The leader of the Turks quietly and calmly sipped his whiskey, which was pretty terrible and not at all refined like the scotch he drank back in Edge. He considered trying something else but figured anything offered at this particular establishment would be beneath his standards. He wondered how Reno could stand it - again, if this man really was Reno.

With a heavy sigh, Tseng finished his drink, paid his tab, and left. He waited in the shadows for the thin man to leave and was nearly frozen when the man finally left the bar. Tseng knew Reno would be difficult to tail, but Tseng was the consummate professional, and knew all the tricks. He managed to follow the thin man back into Modeoheim and to a small log cabin on the outskirts of town. Tseng waited until the lights inside the cabin went dark before making his way over and ducking under a window. He just needed one thing to confirm this was Reno – one trinket or item to prove the man that had thrown up some pretty damn good walls was his former second-in-command.

Tseng slowly lifted his head to peer into the window at the man's living room. It was definitely messier than Reno's apartment back in Edge, with clothing strewn all over the furniture and floor, from what Tseng could see thanks to the nearby streetlight. The room was sparsely furnished, with a sofa and coffee table with a small TV in the corner. Tseng saw nothing on the walls or coffee table that offered any clues.

So, he moved around to another window in the front, this one higher and smaller than the last. The kitchen. Again, there wasn't much to see, but Tseng did notice, tucked into the corner of the counter, a bottle of Reno's favorite scotch. Not conclusive but getting close. Tseng moved to the back of the house to see into the bedroom. The thin man was asleep, and the moonlight luckily cast a wall of light into the room, illuminating an item sitting on the nightstand.

An electro mag rod. Tseng had what he needed. Rude never found the mag rod in Reno's apartment back in Edge, and they all knew he wouldn't leave it behind.

Tseng sat back against the cabin wall outside. It was him, hardened and determined not to let his real identity slip. Tseng had never fully comprehended how much Tifa had meant to Reno until this very moment.

_Day 3_.

With his suspicions confirmed, Tseng again travelled to The Lumberjack after working hours and again found the thin man at the bar. _Smug_, Tseng thought. Reno really thought he was pulling this off. He sidled up next to the man and sat down, ordering them each a glass of whiskey.

"Seriously man, I ain't your guy," the thin man said while still accepting the free drink.

"Yeah, you are," Tseng replied coolly. "I saw the mag rod."

The man shuddered and Tseng saw a hint of disdain and acceptance.

"You followed me into the bathroom?" the thin man asked.

There was that Reno sense of humor.

"Cut the crap, Reno. I followed you home last night," Tseng hissed. "You're acting pathetic. This isn't you."

"Sorry to disappoint, buddy, but _this_ is me," the man retorted, waving his hand in front of his face, still attempting to pretend to be someone else.

Tseng sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"We miss you," he said, almost coldly.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two men for what felt like minutes.

"Was she… happy?" the thin man asked, his voice cracking briefly from its usual suede to reveal a glimpse of Reno.

"Hmm?" Tseng asked.

"Tifa," Reno said glumly. "When you saw her, was she happy?"

The corner of Tseng's lips twitched upward briefly. Progress. He thought back to the last time he saw Tifa. The wedding.

"Yeah, she was happy," Tseng admitted.

Reno took a sip of whiskey but continued to stare straight forward, across the long side of the bar and to the back wall. He made no movements to indicate his feelings one way or the other, though Tseng knew he had to be hurting.

"Good," Reno replied, his expression unchanged but his voice back to normal and a little lighter, as if he were truly glad to hear that.

Another uncomfortable silence.

"Why'd you run?" Tseng asked finally. "It didn't seem like something you would do."

Tseng knew, obviously, that Tifa had chosen Cloud, but because Reno absconded so quickly, none of the Turks knew how it all went down.

And then Reno told him about how he gave Tifa the necklace. How she said she chose him. How he waited for her at the monument. How she broke his heart.

"Guys like us don't get to have normal lives, Reno," Tseng said afterward. "We gave those up for money and power."

"You're really gonna pull that on me when you have Elena?"

"I only have Elena because she understands this world we're in. We can't be with someone outside that world."

Reno didn't answer, instead sitting in silent contemplation for awhile.

"Why'd you have to come here?" Reno finally asked, his voice low so as not to alert his coworkers to this conversation.

"We want you to come back. We've been looking everywhere for you."

"Did it ever occur to you I didn't want to be found, y—?" he stopped short before falling into his old speech pattern.

"We're Turks. We're paid to find people, especially those who don't want to be found."

"Who paid you to find me, then?"

"No one, Reno. You're family."

"I have no family. Caring for people makes you weak."

Tseng sighed again.

"Do you know why I recruited you and promoted you over Rude?" Tseng asked.

"Because of my skills and award-winning personality?" a little bit more of Reno shone through.

"Your skills definitely helped," Tseng replied smoothly as Reno puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. No one ever took his charms seriously. "When Veld and I first found you in the slums, you were working to become a SOLDIER. Said you wanted to make enough money to take care of your family. Your sister was ill, and your mother was destitute."

Reno's lazy smirk had quickly subsided at the mention of "Veld" and further mention of his family. He sunk lower in his seat and steeled himself for Tseng's monologue.

"Most people join SOLDIER for money and power – but not you. You did it to help the ones you loved."

"…with money," Reno added.

"But it wasn't power you wanted, at least not back then," Tseng retorted. "You were promoted because we knew you would do whatever it took to get the job done so you could provide for your family."

"So, it had nothing to do with my skills? It was only because of how easy I was to manipulate?" Reno shot back angrily.

Tseng didn't want to confirm, so instead he shook his head and lied.

"That's not what I meant," he said. "Your motives were different than the others. You were motivated by love, Reno. It didn't make you weak, it made you stronger than everyone else."

"Tch. Fat lot of good that did me. Sis died and mom offed herself soon after," Reno spit out, his words bitter. "And another thing, this situation is totally different. I wasn't providing for Tifa, I was doing my job – and sucking at it, might I add."

"You're wrong," Tseng admonished. "We wouldn't have been in the Northern Crater if it weren't for you. Every step of the way – _you_ were the one leading us forward and getting the information we needed."

"Fine, but I'm no use now," Reno growled.

"Yes, you are," Tseng insisted. "The rest of us have emotions, and now you do, too. It can only help."

"No, it can't."

"Think of it this way, things may hurt right now, but it was the first time you ever felt that way about someone, yeah? That means, maybe you can feel that way again someday, about someone else."

Reno scoffed.

"Like you said, I can't be with anyone outside the lifestyle, so what's the point?"

"Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe there's someone out there that would understand. The world's a dangerous place."

The men finished their drinks in silence before Tseng ordered another round.

"So, what did I miss?" Reno asked after another prolonged silence.

"Remember how Rude was scheduled to meet with an oil-rig owner in Mideel just after you left?"

"Yeah."

"Well, apparently he and Freyra really hit it off and have been dating long distance ever since."

"Good for him," Reno said, sounding more sarcastic than he meant, though he couldn't ignore the fact that he was stung with jealousy that everyone around him seemed to be in love.

"Cloud and Tifa were married a couple weeks ago."

Reno visibly tensed this time but quickly softened. He stared deep into his glass for a few moments before speaking. "I'm glad. She deserves to be happy," he offered.

The truth was, Reno _was_ happy for Tifa. He spent the beginning of his isolation hating her, hating Cloud, but mostly hating himself. But as the months dragged on, he started realizing that he was just hurt. As time passed, he started hoping she was happy with the decision she made. He truly loved her and found himself wanting her to have everything she ever wanted, even if that didn't include him.

"That's very mature of you," Tseng said. He then looked around the room before he turned his gaze directly toward Reno. "Is this really the life you want now?"

Reno followed Tseng's lead and also looked around the bar. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the bar and hung his head.

"No," he said with a certain sadness to his voice. "But it's the one I need right now."

"I think you're ready to come back," Tseng said. "_We_ all certainly miss you, and you'll always have a place with the Turks. Your apartment has been paid for and your position is secure. Rude hates being second-in-command without you there."

Reno chuckled out of the side of his mouth a little at the last remark but continued to run his thumb over the rim of the empty glass he was holding.

"I'll think about it," he said simply, more to his glass than to Tseng.

"We'll be waiting," Tseng said with a hand on Reno's shoulder as the raven-haired leader stood up to leave.

Reno continued to swivel his empty glass in his palm after Tseng left. A few of the other lumberjacks came over to try and ask him about that man who kept showing up and if he knew him or why he seemed to talk to him for so long. Reno, or Axel, dismissed them with a grunt and left the bar after paying his tab.

He rolled down his sleeves once he got outside and pulled a knit cap out of his back pocket to cover his ears. He hated living in such a cold and desolate place and wanted desperately to go home to Edge. He wasn't cut out for this life, with all its boring regularity, even if he was really proud of the beard. If he went back to Edge he'd have to stop dying his hair, and somehow a fire red beard – especially with aquamarine eyes – just wouldn't have the same appeal.

He shoved his hands in his jean pockets and headed home, filled with mixed feelings he had pushed aside for months. Yes, he wanted to go home, but not to the life he had, not to the way he lived before he fell for Tifa. He needed to be ready to go back to Seventh Heaven, to come to terms with what happened, because Rude and Elena and even Tseng were friends with her now. He needed to get to a place where he could be near her with his friends and not look pathetic, as Tseng called him, or menacing. Cloud needed to know Reno wouldn't be there to cause trouble, because he really didn't want to cause her any pain. Seventh Heaven was just a nice place to get a drink with friends and a lively atmosphere.

He had nearly approached his home when those four little words cropped up into his mind; the four little words he hadn't heard in months because he had done everything short of jamming an icepick into his eardrum to suppress them.

"_I love you, too._"

He placed a hand on his front door to steady himself as he looked at the snow beneath his feet. He wasn't ready, yet.

_Weeks later…_

Tifa was pouring a beer from the tap for a customer. Cloud had just brought in a new keg and was standing beside her, a little too close to keep the patrons from making kissing noises. It was becoming less frequent, but there were still a few who thought it was funny to make sounds and comments at the newlyweds.

By now Cloud and Tifa were able to tune them out, or they would give each other a little smile to indicate their not-so-secret inside joke. They were married now, let the people be immature. Cloud didn't mind since he and Tifa were together. Months ago, it would have hurt him to hear it or given him too much false hope. But now? Now he just counted the hours and minutes until the bar would close so that they could be alone.

The Turks had stopped coming to the bar for a while after the engagement announcement made the papers. Tifa understood why, even if she did miss their banter and Elena specifically. She knew she would lose them after she hurt Reno, but it didn't stop it from hurting her as well.

Eventually they made their way back, informing Tifa that Reno had left town. A new wave of guilt had washed over her then, knowing how badly she had damaged one of the strongest men she knew. She thought back to how her friends always said she was the strongest _woman_ they knew – and Cloud had crushed her, back then.

So, she was surprised when the chimes above the bar door rang close to closing time and she glanced over to see a ghost. A memory now faded, but not tarnished. Her eyes widened as her lips curled into a soft, friendly smile – one bordering between what she would give a friend and a regular.

Reno was not familiar with this look from her, and though she was as beautiful as ever and he was just happy to see her again, he didn't like it. Rude, Elena, Tseng, and Freyra were all sitting at their usual table and nearly dropped their drinks when he entered, strolling over to them as if he hadn't just disappeared for nearly eight months.

His hair was its usual red again; his beard shaved. He was still too thin, even for Reno, and the lack of tattoos on his cheeks stood out more to those who knew him than the actual tattoos ever had. He wore his old dark blue Turk suit, which brought out his eyes, again aquamarine. He pulled up a chair and sat with his old coworkers, whose expressions all looked similar to Tifa's.

"Is this what pity looks like?" he asked. "Cuz I don't want any part of it, yo."

Elena leaned over in her chair to throw her arms around his neck, as Rude placed a hand on Reno's shoulder. He shook them off in an exaggerated manner and waved his hands in the air to get them to back up.

"What did I just say?" he asked, earning him his first chuckle of his return.

"So, you're back completely?" Elena asked when she pulled out of the hug.

"Yeah, well, Tseng made it clear you guys were fallin' apart without me, so…"

Tseng stared straight at Reno, emotionless.

"I heard you had a beard. Any pictures?" Elena asked.

"No."

"Your tattoos…" Rude noticed. Reno just scoffed.

"What'll you do now?" Tseng asked.

"Might head back to Icicle, teach Juget a lesson, if you know what I mean," Reno teased, sounding like his old self.

"Are you really going back to your old ways?" Freyra chimed in.

Reno dropped his shoulders and sighed, shaking his head.

"No," he breathed out, looking at his hands in front of him on the table. "Where do you go from Tifa Lockhart?"

"I hear that Wutai princess is still available," Freyra joked.

The others turned to look at her with wide yet glaring eyes, but Reno just laughed off her remark. A tumbler of scotch appeared in front of him, held by the soft, delicate hand of an angel standing just to the side of Reno's shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, an aroma he had missed these past few months.

"Scotch?"

He followed the line of her arm up to see her face, which displayed a more natural smile now. Her eyes were still wide, but they were warm and telling him everything would be okay. He found himself smiling back.

"Thanks," he said calmly as he took the glass.

Cloud stood behind the bar watching the interaction. He wasn't threatening, more curious to see how Reno would act and if he had come to terms with the situation. He wanted to see what _he_ would have looked like seven months after losing her. He gave her a reassuring hand on her shoulder when she returned to the bar. She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Reno then fielded questions from his coworkers and described where he had been and what he had been doing since he left. When Tifa finally closed up the bar, Reno lingered at the table after standing up. He was staring at the wood grain he had once known so well and couldn't help but trace its patterns with his fingertips. Gone were the days when he would hang back to play, and that thought wasn't even on his mind. He was just soaking up the atmosphere that he had missed so much; breathing in the smell of liquor and cologne and the hint of hibiscus that seemed to waft through the room on a whim.

Tifa gave Cloud a nod and he went upstairs once everyone else had left.

"Reno?" Tifa asked, bringing the redhead to the realization that they were the only two left.

"Hey," he said, his voice breaking like a teenager's. He hoped she didn't notice.

"How've you been?" she walked over to him slowly, sure to keep her distance.

"Good and lousy," he responded languidly. "Spent some time in Icicle, chilled me out quite literally."

"Tseng said you grew a beard."

"He told everyone, didn't he?" Reno groaned. "Well, at least everyone knows that I can, in fact, grow facial hair if I wanted to."

Tifa smiled at his comment. She had really worried that he wouldn't be the same even if he did come back.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He really didn't want to be pitied. It was embarrassing.

"You know me, I always bounce back," he said, jabbing a thumb toward his chest and standing proudly.

"That you do," she replied.

After an awkward silence, Reno leaned over the bar, supporting his weight on his elbows.

"But, uh," he said quietly, "you really did think you loved me for a minute there, right?" he looked over at her with dejected, expecting eyes. Tifa nodded.

"I really did," she said, trying to smile.

Reno nodded his head a couple times as he stooped over the bar before knocking his knuckles on it once and standing up. He looked out the front window of the bar before looking back at Tifa, his trademark grin reinstated.

"G'night, Tifa," he said.

"Good night, Reno," she replied before he left the bar.

It was spring in Edge, much warmer than Icicle but still chilly. Reno walked down the street with heavy steps, the grin still plastered to his face. She had loved him. He didn't imagine it all, and like Tseng said, if he felt that way about someone once, he could feel it again. And if someone loved him once, someone could love him again.

He looked to the sky. There were a few stars out – the ones that weren't drowned out by the streetlights he passed on his way home. He finally saw what Tifa saw in the stars, why she was staring at them in Nibelheim and why he'd catch her looking up at them whenever they were out at night.

It was hope.

**End notes: Hope you cried like I did during this chapter. Thank you all for taking this journey with me.**

**Now I plan to rewrite this extensively, fixing so many issues and adding so many new scenes, especially in the beginning. I'm also going to make it a Remake fic, which fits nicely with the fact that I only borrowed some elements of Advent Children while leaving out the main points.**

**When the rewrites are done, I have one more surprise. Like I said, when I started this fic I knew exactly how it would begin and end, but I also always planned to write an alternate ending because I love Reno so much.**

**I'll update the main description with where I am in the rewrites since FanFiction doesn't send alerts for edited chapters. I never wanted this story to end, and I'm still so sad that it has. I hope most of you love this story as much as I do.**


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